Ship Graveyard Discovered Off The Coast Of Ancient City

Maritime archaeologists have recently discovered a massive 328-foot ship graveyard off the coast of the 2,000-year-old ancient Greek port city of Ptolemais, Libya.

Over the centuries, earthquakes caused the Mediterranean Sea to rise, submerging the ancient port of Ptolemais. Finally, after a 13-year hiatus due to the Libyan civil war, archaeologists from the University of Warsaw returned in 2023 to explore the remains of one of the largest ancient Greek cities in the Cyrenaica region.

In the last couple of years, researchers uncovered a wealth of finds, including ancient port infrastructure, ancient columns, traces of submerged roads, numerous dropped anchors, and probes used to explore the seabed in antiquity, according to Science in Poland.

The shining star of the dig thus far was the 328.084-foot-long ship graveyard they discovered in a shallow rock formation. The site contains remains from multiple vessels, suggesting a history of merchant ships that likely foundered in the same treacherous area while approaching the shore.

The discovered cargo fragments, amphorae, and artifacts speak of the cargo that once passed through these waters, continuing to reveal a long-under-researched world of the Greek empire. "Practically the entire city remains to be discovered," the archaeologists stated.

The extensive shipwreck stretching hundreds of feet along the seafloor marks multiple failed attempts to reach the port city; alas, these ships never docked. However, in a twist of fate, what was once a disaster zone for ships arriving from the east has become "a good starting point for long-term underwater research at Ptolemais," as per Science in Poland.

What these ships carried included amphorae, one of which held crystallized wine. Researchers also recovered a bronze aequipodium, a weight for a Roman balance scale shaped like a woman’s head and filled with lead. Archaeologists are currently analyzing these finds and awaiting the results of their study, according to Science in Poland.

Researchers made stunning discoveries on land, too. A separate team identified a road that led to the Acropolis, along with possible observation towers that made up the city’s defense walls. They even found a Greek inscription from the Severan dynasty dating to the 3rd century AD., Heritage Daily reports.