Marine archaeologists have discovered 10 shipwrecks, including one estimated to be more than 5,000 years old, off the Greek coast in the Mediterranean.
The team made the discoveries underwater during a multi-year survey off the coast of Kasos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, with the use of Homer’s poem “Iliad” as a guide.
The survey took place between 2019 and 2023, and was carried out by a research team of Greece’s National Research Foundation, according to the Greek Ministry of Culture.
A team of divers found the remains of 10 vessels, spanning thousands of years of history – from the oldest one at 3000 BC to the most recent at World War II.
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The vessels were discovered to have sunken in different eras, including the Classical period (460 BC), the Hellenistic period (100 BC to 100 AD), the Roman years (200 BC – 300 AD), the Byzantine period (800 – 900 AD), and the Medieval and Ottoman periods.
The ministry said researchers also discovered “unique finds” of shipwrecks originating from Spain, Italy, Africa and the coasts of Asia Minor, including a Spanish Dressel 20 amphora with a seal on its handle dated between 150-170 AD.
Other discoveries include drinking vessels and terra sigillata flasks of African origin from the Roman period, and a stone pillar anchor belonging to the Archaic period (700-500 BC).
One of the six photos released by the culture ministry shows three divers swimming around the stone anchor.
The team also found the remains of a World War II-era wooden ship with metal elements that stands nearly 30m (100 feet) long.
Divers took more than 20,000 underwater photos and used a side-scanning sonar to map and measure the depth of the Kasos-Karpathos reef for the first time.
All the shipwrecks and sunken treasures were found at depths of between 65 and 155 feet, CBS News reported.
The island of Kasos was a major trade and naval hub whose fleets took part in the 1821 Greek Revolution, according to historians. It was even mentioned by Homer in “Iliad,” as taking an active role in the Trojan War.
“It is the first systematic research on the seabed of Kasos with the main objective of locating, recording and studying the antiquities of an area at the crossroads of cultures and once a center of navigation,” according to the Kasos project’s website.
