Image copyright Black Sea MAP/EEF Expeditions Image caption The ship was surveyed and digitally mapped by two remote underwater vehicles

A Greek merchant ship dating back more than 2,400 years has been found lying on its side off the Bulgarian coast.

The 23m (75ft) wreck, found in the Black Sea by an Anglo-Bulgarian team, is being hailed as officially the world's oldest known intact shipwreck.

The researchers were stunned to find the merchant vessel closely resembled in design a ship that decorated ancient Greek wine vases.

The rudder, rowing benches and even the contents of its hold remain intact.

"It's like another world," Helen Farr from the expedition told the BBC.

"It's when the ROV [remote operated vehicle] drops down through the water column and you see this ship appear in the light at the bottom so perfectly preserved it feels like you step back in time."

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The reason the trading vessel, dating back to around 400 BC, has remained in such good condition for so long is that the water is anoxic, or free of oxygen. Lying more than 2,000m below the surface, it is also beyond the reach of modern divers.

"It's preserved, it's safe," she added. "It's not deteriorating and it's unlikely to attract hunters."

The vessel was one of many tracking between the Mediterranean and Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast. It was discovered more than 80km off the Bulgarian city of Burgas.

Image copyright Werner Forman/Getty Images Image caption The Anglo-Bulgarian team believe the Black Sea wreck dates back to the Fourth Century BC, perhaps 100 years after the Siren Vase was painted

The team used two underwater robotic explorers to map out a 3-D image of the ship and they took a sample to carbon-date its age.

The vessel is similar in style to that depicted by the so-called Siren Painter on the Siren Vase in the British Museum. Dating back to around 480 BC, the vase shows Odysseus strapped to the mast as his ship sails past three mythical sea nymphs whose tune was thought to drive sailors to their deaths.

As yet the ship's cargo remains unknown and the team say they need more funding if they are to return to the site. "Normally we find amphorae (wine vases) and can guess where it's come from, but with this it's still in the hold," said Dr Farr.

"As archaeologists we're interested in what it can tell us about technology, trade and movements in the area."

Over the course of three years the academic expedition found 67 wrecks including Roman trading ships and a 17th Century Cossack trading fleet.</s>The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project finds a virtually intact ancient Greek trading ship dating back more than 2,400 years at the bottom of the Black Sea, the world's oldest known shipwreck

LONDON, United Kingdom – An ancient Greek trading ship dating back more than 2,400 years has been found virtually intact at the bottom of the Black Sea, the world's oldest known shipwreck, researchers said on Tuesday, October 23.

The vessel is one of more than 60 shipwrecks identified by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project including Roman ships and a 17th-century Cossack raiding fleet.

During the 3-year project, researchers used specialist remote deep-water camera systems previously used in offshore oil and gas exploration to map the sea floor.

"A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind," the project said in a statement.

The ship, which is lying on its side with its mast and rudders intact, was dated back to 400 BC – a time when the Black Sea was a trading hub filled with Greek colonies.

The team said the vessel, previously only seen in an intact state on the side of ancient Greek pottery, was found at a depth of more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet).

The water at that depth is oxygen-free, meaning that organic material can be preserved for thousands of years.

"A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over two kilometers of water, is something I would never have believed possible," said Professor Jon Adams from the University of Southampton in southern England, the project's main investigator.

"This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world," he said.

Helen Farr, a project team member, said: "We have bits of shipwreck which are earlier but this one really looks intact".

"The project as a whole was actually looking at sea level change and the flooding of the Black Sea region... and the shipwrecks are a happy by-product of that," she told BBC radio. – Rappler.com</s>
• The world's oldest intact shipwreck has been discovered in the Black Sea.
• Archaeologists working with the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project found the 23-meter vessel 2 kilometers below the surface.
• Carbon-dating methods aged the ship at more than 2,400 years old.
• The lack of oxygen at the ship's depth is thought to have kept it in such good condition.
• The merchant vessel is thought to confirm the accuracy of depictions by the ancient Greek artist known as the Siren Painter, whose work is on display in The British Museum.

The world's oldest intact shipwreck has been discovered in the Black Sea about 50 miles off the coast of Bulgaria, it was announced on Tuesday.

Archaeologists working with the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project found the 23-meter vessel 2 kilometers below the surface, where it is thought to have been situated for more than 2,400 years.

The researchers said the lack of oxygen at this depth kept the wreck in such pristine condition.

The ship was so well preserved that they found its mast, rudder blade, and even coils of rope left intact.

"A ship surviving intact from the classical world, lying in over 2 km of water, is something I would never have believed possible," Professor Jon Adams, the principal investigator of the team that found the wreck, wrote in a statement sent to Business Insider.

"This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world," he wrote.

The merchant vessel is thought to confirm the accuracy of images by the ancient Greek artist known as the Siren Painter, who depicted scenes from antiquity, such as those from Homer's "Odyssey," on vases.

"Nobody has ever known how accurate the representation on the Siren Vase was and whether the artist was making it up or drawing what he saw," Adams said, according to The Times.

"Now we see archaeological evidence showing a ship very close in detail, even down to the shape of the rudder blade," he said. "The artist must have been familiar with ships."

In the statement, the team said a small piece of the ship was carbon-dated by the University of Southampton, which confirmed it to be the oldest intact shipwreck known to humankind.

The discovery was part of a three-year project to map the Black Sea bed using highly advanced technologies, including remotely operated underwater vehicles.

The project has turned up over 60 shipwrecks, including the world's oldest, as well as a Bronze Age settlement, Sky News reported. Funded by the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, it has reportedly cost around £15 million ($19.5 million).

A two-hour documentary has been made about the project, which will debut at The British Museum on Tuesday.</s>An ancient Greek trading ship dating back more than 2,400 years has been found virtually intact at the bottom of the Black Sea, researchers said on Tuesday.

The vessel is one of more than 60 shipwrecks identified by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project including Roman ships and a 17th-century Cossack raiding fleet.

During the three-year project, researchers used specialist remote deep-water camera systems previously used in offshore oil and gas exploration to map the sea floor.

"A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind," the project said in a statement.

The ship, which is lying on its side with its mast and rudders intact, was dated back to 400 BC - a time when the Black Sea was a trading hub filled with Greek colonies.</s>An ancient Greek trading ship dating back more than 2,400 years has been found virtually intact at the bottom of the Black Sea, the world’s oldest known shipwreck, researchers say.

The vessel is one of more than 60 shipwrecks identified by the Black Sea Maritime Archeology Project including Roman ships.

During the three-year project, researchers used specialist remote deep-water camera systems previously used in offshore oil and gas exploration to map the sea floor.

“A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind,” they said yesterday.

The ship, which is lying on its side with its mast and rudders intact, was dated back to 400 BC — a time when the Black Sea was a trading hub filled with Greek colonies.

The team said the vessel, previously only seen in an intact state on the side of ancient Greek pottery, was found at a depth of more than 2,000 meters.

The water at that depth is oxygen-free, meaning that organic material can be preserved for years.

“A ship, surviving intact, from the classical world, lying in over two kilometers of water, is something I would never have believed possible,” said Professor Jon Adams from the University of Southampton in England, the project’s main investigator.</s>An ancient Greek trading ship dating back more than 2,400 years has been found virtually intact at the bottom of the Black Sea, researchers said on Tuesday. The vessel is one of more than 60 shipwrecks identified by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project including Roman ships and a 17th-century Cossack raiding fleet.

During the three-year project, researchers used specialist remote deep-water camera systems previously used in offshore oil and gas exploration to map the sea floor. “A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind,” the project said in a statement. The ship, which is lying on its side with its mast and rudders intact, was dated back to 400 BC — a time when the Black Sea was a trading hub filled with Greek colonies.

The team said the vessel, previously only seen in an intact state on the side of ancient Greek pottery, was found at a depth of more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet). The water at that depth is oxygen-free, meaning that organic material can be preserved for thousands of years.

“A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over 2km of water, is something I would never have believed possible,” said Professor Jon Adams from the University of Southampton in southern England, the project’s main investigator. “This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world,” he said.</s>The world’s oldest intact shipwreck has been found at the bottom of the Black Sea — where it had been laying undisturbed for more than 2,400 years, archaeologists said Tuesday.

The 75-foot merchant vessel — thought to have sailed during Ancient Greek and Roman times — was salvaged by British scientists about 50 miles off the coast of Bulgaria, as part of the Black Sea Maritime Archaeological Project.

“This is an incredible find. The first of its kind ever,” Dr. Kroum Batchvarov, who worked on the project, told Sky News. “We have complete vessel, with the masts still standing, with the quarter rudders in place,”

A lack of oxygen in the Black Sea is thought to have preserved the vessel so well, that even bones from the Monkfish the sailors ate on board remained intact on deck.

The ship is believed to have been a trading vessel, similar to ones depicted on ancient Greek pottery, like the “Siren Vase” which is exhibited at the British Museum, according to The Guardian UK.

It’s among more than 60 shipwrecks uncovered by the international team of maritime archaeologists and scientists working on the $19 million, three-year mission to explore the Black Sea’s depths.

The team’s findings will be presented at the British Museum Tuesday.</s>'Oldest Intact Shipwreck Known To Mankind' Found In Depths Of Black Sea

More than a mile beneath the surface of the Black Sea, shrouded in darkness, an ancient Greek ship sat for millennia unseen by human eyes — until the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project happened upon its watery grave last year.

The team announced the find Tuesday, saying its discovery has been "confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind." Radiocarbon-dated to roughly 400 B.C., the trading vessel plied the waves in the days of Plato and Sophocles, when the city-states of ancient Greece had scattered colonies all around the Black Sea.

Since then, it has sat at a depth that more than doubles the height of the tallest skyscraper in the world. In water that deep, oxygen is hard to come by, and because of that, so too are the organic processes that help drive decomposition. That left the ship all but undisturbed until the research team discovered it — along with dozens of other shipwrecks — during an 800 square-mile survey of the seabed.

"A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over 2km of water, is something I would never have believed possible," Jon Adams, an archaeology professor at the University of Southampton and the group's principal investigator, said in a statement released Tuesday. "This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world."

For one example of the ship's value, the team pointed to a very different kind of vessel — pottery. The group says ships of the design they found last year had previously only been found in artwork such as the Siren Vase, an artifact dated several decades earlier than the ship.

The vase depicts a scene from The Odyssey, in which Odysseus is strapped to the mast as he passes the deadly sirens. Now, according to MAP, they know it also depicts a representation of real trading vessels used around the same era as their find.

"It's like another world," Helen Farr, a member of the expedition, told the BBC. "It's when the ROV [remote operated vehicle] drops down through the water column and you see this ship appear in the light at the bottom so perfectly preserved it feels like you step back in time."

But ancient Greece is not the only bygone era to reveal itself beneath the waves.

In three years of probing the Black Sea, the group says it has discovered more than 60 sunken ships — from ancient boats like the one announced Tuesday to ships of a more modern variety. That includes a 17th-century raiding fleet launched by the Cossacks, a people who had by that time settled north of the Black Sea, near the border of modern Russia and Ukraine.

The team is releasing a documentary on its findings Tuesday at the British Museum, offering a glimpse into what archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert called "an incredibly rich museum of human history."

"This wreck shows the unprecedented potential for preservation in the Black Sea, which has been a critical crossroads of world cultures for thousands of years," he told National Geographic. "It's an incredible find."</s>The vessel is one of more than 60 shipwrecks identified by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project including Roman ships and a 17th-century Cossack raiding fleet.

During the three-year project, researchers used specialist remote deep-water camera systems previously used in offshore oil and gas exploration to map the sea floor.

"A small piece of the vessel has been carbon dated and it is confirmed as the oldest intact shipwreck known to mankind," the project said in a statement.

The ship, which is lying on its side with its mast and rudders intact, was dated back to 400 BC—a time when the Black Sea was a trading hub filled with Greek colonies.

The team said the vessel, previously only seen in an intact state on the side of ancient Greek pottery, was found at a depth of more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet).

The water at that depth is oxygen-free, meaning that organic material can be preserved for thousands of years.

"A ship, surviving intact, from the Classical world, lying in over two kilometres of water, is something I would never have believed possible," said Professor Jon Adams from the University of Southampton in southern England, the project's main investigator.

"This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world," he said.

Helen Farr, a project team member, said: "We have bits of shipwreck which are earlier but this one really looks intact".

"The project as a whole was actually looking at sea level change and the flooding of the Black Sea region... and the shipwrecks are a happy by-product of that," she told BBC radio.</s>Carbon dating indicates the ship dates back over 2,400 years. Its rudders, rowing benches, and contents have been so well preserved due to a lack of oxygen in the depths of the Black Sea.

A team of researchers has discovered what is being hailed as the oldest intact shipwreck in the world over a mile beneath the surface of the Black Sea. At that depth, oxygen is not present, so marine life is almost completely absent and bacteria do not grow, allowing an amazing preservation of any artifacts found there. The Washington Post reports that the depth of the shipwreck also makes it out of reach for most divers, which is why it has remained on the sea floor for so long. The ship measures about 7,500 feet in length and is believed to date back over 2,400 years according to the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project team, making it the oldest intact shipwreck ever discovered. The preservation of the ship is awe-inspiring with its rudders, rowing benches, and contents still intact 2,400 years after it fell to the bottom of the sea.

BBC reports that the ship bears a striking resemblance to a ship portrayed on ancient wine vases from Greece. An example is the Siren Vase in the British Museum that shows Odysseus strapped to the mast of a ship as rowers move the ship through waters with mystical sea nymphs whose songs were believed to drive sailors to their deaths fly above them.

It is just one of over 60 ships that were discovered. The team stated that others discovered during their three-year project include a Cossack raiding fleet from the 17th century and multiple Roman trading vessels with period artifacts still aboard.

Researchers created a 3-D image of the ship using underwater robotic equipment and removed a sample for carbon dating its age. Team member Helen Farr described watching the equipment do its work as a trip back in time.

The team’s website explains that they conducted their research remotely through the use of sonar and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Through their work, they hoped to learn more about ancient civilization. Combining archaeology and geophysics, the Bulgarian team sought to learn more about their heritage and uncover environmental records that would provide some insight into the natural environment of present-day Bulgaria. A documentary covering the team’s work and discoveries will soon be released. Their website states that the team investigated the depths of the Black Sea in order to learn how changes in sea level impacted ancient civilizations.
The discovery of a Classical Greek trading ship thought to date to approximately 400 BC is reported by a team of scientists working in the Black Sea. It is the oldest known intact shipwreck.