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Treasures swallowed up by the sea. Sensational discoveries of underwater archaeologists

MOSCOW, RIA Novosti, Tatiana Pichugina. During the last ice age, due to the fall in sea level, the area of Australia increased by a third. Our ancestors followed the retreating coastline, making drawings in caves and leaving a lot of tools. As the glaciers melted, all this was flooded with water. Only last year, traces of ancient people were discovered for the first time at the bottom. About the most amazing discoveries of underwater archaeology – in the collection of RIA Novosti.

Flooded antiquities of the Stone Age

«Very little is known about the now sunken landscapes, their population, their role in the development of mankind,» scientists from Australia write in an article with the results of an underwater archaeological expedition off the northwest coast of the continent. It is estimated that at the peak of the last glaciation, the sea level was 130 meters below the modern one. Consequently, a significant part of the continental shelf was land. Then the warming began, and about seven thousand years ago the continents and oceans acquired familiar shapes. Once vast expanses of the earth flooded. The depth is very large, and it was not possible to thoroughly explore it before. The Australians were the first to make efforts to study the sites of ancient people under water. They chose the Dampir Archipelago – there is a national park there, where, among other things, artifacts of prehistoric culture and rock carvings are protected. From 2017 to 2019, six expeditions were sent there. First, the water area was surveyed by lidars and drones from the air, bathymetry was carried out from the ship, topographic maps of the bottom were made and two promising sites were selected – at Cape Brugier and in the Flying Foam Strait. At the first site at a depth of 2.4 meters, divers found 269 stone artifacts, at the second – only one. Among them are nuclei – blanks, flakes, including sharpened ones, two stones similar to grinding ones. For comparison, 455 items were collected on the nearest shores. All of them, underwater and land, are made of local volcanic rock, they have many common features. Scientists cannot date the finds directly, but by indirect signs they are at least seven thousand years old. This is the first discovery of traces of Stone Age people on the sea shelf.

At the crossroads of sea routes

The coast of Syria has been the center of international trade for five thousand years. The sailors of Arvad Island are mentioned in the Bible. However, systematic archaeological work was not carried out due to the difficult political and economic situation in the region. Several attempts in the 1960s and 1980s immediately brought sensations – shipwrecks were discovered in the water area. In 2019 and 2020, a Russian-Syrian underwater expedition worked near the island of Arvad and the city of Tartus. Specialists examined the water areas using geophysical methods, made maps and selected areas where urban structures and ships were likely to sink. Off the coast of Tartus, divers and underwater drones have found the ruins of a sea fortress of the I century AD. According to Dmitry Tatarkov, a member of the expedition from Sevastopol State University, the remains of hydraulic structures, a lighthouse and four marble columns, a pier, breakwaters and an embankment were found. Scientists have brought to the surface the shards of Greek amphorae, Phoenician pots, Egyptian vases, various household items made of Roman stone. Ceramics will help to accurately date the finds. Researchers note that this port of Roman time was not known before. The find will allow to rethink the ancient sea trade routes in the main regions of the Mediterranean.

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum

Samuel Bellamy had joined the British Royal Navy as a teenager. At 26, he sailed to the New World in search of treasure and soon became the captain of a pirate ship. He has 53 captured ships on his account, including the English frigate «Ouida», which transported slaves and untold treasures. He got it in early 1717, and just two months later Bellamy got into a storm on it off Cape Cod and died. Bellamy, nicknamed Black Sam, was the most famous English pirate. And, despite his age, he was considered the richest. There were legends about his mercy. Almost the entire crew – 146 people – died in that shipwreck. Two escaped. 130 bodies washed ashore. The fate of the others remained unknown to this day. In 1982, the skeleton of the «Ouida» was found off the coast of Massachusetts – this is the first pirate ship in history that was identified. In 2018, the remains of a man were lifted from the bottom, Bellamy’s pistol was lying next to him. One of the direct descendants provided DNA for comparison, but the relationship was not confirmed. And here is a new sensation – the other day in the vicinity of the sunken ship, archaeologists from the Museum of Pirates «Ouida» found six large stone nodules with artifacts. According to local media, an X – ray examination showed that skeletons were inside. The next step is to analyze the findings and DNA. Scientists hope to shed light on the fate of the missing crew members and Black Sam himself. https://ria.ru/20210223/otkrytiya-1598222478.html