2,200-Year-Old Shipwreck off Cannes Looted and Damaged – RisePEI
France is investigating the plundering of an historic shipwreck found within the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
The two,200-year-old vessel was found by archeologists in 2017. A latest official exploration of the wreck revealed that unauthorized divers had reached it first, damaging the construction and plundering the uncommon clay containers saved inside.
The ship, dubbed the Fort Royal 1, is believed to have sunk or misplaced its cargo close to Sainte-Marguerite, one of many Lerins islands off the coast of Cannes, throughout the second century BCE. It carried amphoras, or tall Greek and Roman jars used to retailer wine.
“Effectively-conserved wrecks from this era are notably uncommon,” stated a joint assertion from the department of marine archaeology within the French tradition ministry and Marseille authorities. “That’s why the chance to review the picket physique and the cargo is totally distinctive.”
“The losses of scientific and historic data are in all probability vital,” the assertion continued. In response to the “ransacking of a serious heritage web site,” crusing and mooring across the wreck is now prohibited and an emergency preservation operation has been launched. Conservationists are at present on the scene assessing the harm.
The service provider vessel was found in 2017 by main French marine archaeologists Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray, who devoted a long time to the seek for shipwrecks within the Mediterranean. Jean-Pierre died in 2020.
The Joncherays discovered 17 urns in what they referred to as a “exceptional” situation and continued to excavate the Fort Royal 1, which is known as after a fortress on Sainte-Marguerite Island, till 2019. At the moment, it’s unclear what number of wine containers had been looted or broken.
