An ancient shipwreck preserves a time capsule from the Deep Bronze Age
The remains of the oldest shipwreck ever discovered in deep water, and perhaps the oldest complete shipwreck in any water, have been located in the Mediterranean Sea about 56 miles off the northern coast of Israel.The Israel Antiquities Authority, which announced the find Thursday, said preliminary examination of two clay vessels known as Canaanite amphorae indicated that the merchant ship, about 39 to 46 feet long, sank between 1400 BC and 1300 BC, a time when the Egyptian empire stretched from what is now northern Syria to Sudan, and the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun briefly sat on the throne.It is unclear whether the galley was the victim of a sudden storm, a headwind or an attempted piracy. But judging by footage recorded by a remotely operated submersible robot, the vessel settled to the b...