Археологийн баг Грекийн эрэг орчмын усан дор хийсэн 13 хоногийн судалгаагаар урьд өмнө баримтжуулаагүй олон тооны эртний хөлөг онгоцны үлдэгдлийг олжээ.
Грекийн Усан доорх эртний олдворын алба болон АНУ-ын RPM Nautical Foundation байгууллагын хамтарсан баг Жорж Куцуфлакис, Питер Кэмпбелл нарын удирдлага дор Фурни арлуудын эргэн тойронд судалгаа хийжээ. Энэхүү бүс нутаг нь эрт цагт далайн худалдааны гол зангилаа байсан бөгөөд 13 хоногийн малтлагаар МЭӨ 700-аад оноос МЭ 16-р зуун хүртэлх хугацаанд хамаарах 22 хөлөг онгоцны сэгийг илрүүлсэн байна. Судлаачид ердөө гурав, дөрвөн сэг олно гэсэн хүлээлттэй байсан тул уг олдвор нь тэдний төсөөллөөс давсан үр дүн болжээ.
Олдсон хөлөг онгоцууд нь далайн мандал доороос 3-55 метрийн гүнд тархан байрласан бөгөөд тэдгээрийн ачаа болох ваар савнууд нь онцгой ач холбогдолтой юм. Судалгааны явцад өмнө нь хөлөг онгоцны сэгээс олдож байгаагүй ачаа тээш бүхий гурван цэг илэрсний дотор Хар тэнгисийн бүс нутгаас гаралтай, лууван хэлбэртэй амфора буюу ваарнууд багтаж байна. Энэ нь эртний худалдааны маршрут болон тухайн арлын боомтын ач холбогдлын талаар илүү тодорхой мэдээллийг өгч байна.
Судлаачид олдсон хөлөг онгоцнуудын тал орчим хувь нь Ромын эзэнт гүрний сүүл үед хамаарч байгааг онцолсон бөгөөд энэ нь түүхэн бичвэрүүдэд бага дурдагдсан Фурни арлын стратегийн ач холбогдлыг дахин үнэлэхэд хүргэж байна. Одоогоор олдсон дээжүүдийг Афины лабораторид илгээж, хөлөг онгоцнууд ямар төрлийн бараа тээвэрлэж байсан болон тэдний мөхлийн шалтгааныг тогтоохоор ажиллаж байна. Энэхүү судалгаа нь Грекийн усан доорх түүхийн мэдлэгийг 12 хувиар өсгөсөн бөгөөд эрэг орчмын ердөө 5 хувийг л хамарсан тул цаашид илүү олон олдвор илрэх боломжтой гэж үзэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
A survey around the Greek archipelago of Fourni turned up 22 shipwrecks in just 13 days, none of them scientifically documented before. Some of the finds carry cargoes never recorded on a shipwreck anywhere else.
Fourni is a small, rocky cluster of islands in the eastern Aegean Sea, not far from the Turkish coast. It never had great cities or famous monuments, and for centuries its underwater story survived mostly in the accounts of local fishermen and sponge divers, who spoke of algae-covered mounds of ancient pottery on the seafloor.
That local knowledge is what finally pushed archaeologists to look. In 2015, a joint team from the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the U.S.-based RPM Nautical Foundation went in, led by George Koutsouflakis and Peter Campbell. What they found went well beyond what they had planned for.
A Haul Nobody Expected
The numbers alone were striking. The 22 wrecks span from the Archaic period (700–480 B.C.) to the late medieval 16th century A.D., and they lie at depths ranging from 180 feet down to a barely submerged 10 feet. Expectations had been far more modest.
“I think we were all shocked. We were expecting three or four wrecks, and we would have been very happy,” said Peter Campbell, co-director of the project.
And before this expedition, about 180 ancient shipwrecks had been officially documented in Greek waters after years of research. These 22 added roughly 12 percent to that total, and the team has explored only 5 percent of the coastline.
A Crossroads the Texts Forgot
Why so many wrecks in such a small place? As reported by the press release featured by the University of Southampton, Fourni sat at key maritime crossroads, making it an essential stop for ships crossing the Aegean. Routes ran both east to west and north to south, and plenty of vessels never made it out the other side.
What surprised the team most was the timing. Roughly half the newly found wrecks date to the late Roman period, even though Roman-era texts say little about Fourni. Koutsouflakis put it plainly:
“By the late Roman period, we don’t really know anything about the island.” The shipwrecks, he added, tell “a more nuanced story. The island must have maintained importance as a harbor site.”
Cargoes Never Seen Before
The ships themselves are mostly gone, but their cargo remains scattered across the seafloor. Most of the wrecks held amphoras, the large ceramic containers used to carry oil, wine and fish sauce. Campbell said that the debris shows “near the point of impact where the ships must have crashed,” and he contrasted it with “the nice ship-shaped piles of amphoras that you sometimes get in ships that wreck far out at sea.” And three sites stand out.
“What is astonishing is not only the number of the shipwrecks, but also the diversity of the cargos,” said Koutsouflakis, noting that: “At least three of the sites have cargos that have not been found previously on shipwrecks.”
One wreck carried Archaic-period pottery from the nearby island of Samos, likely bound for Cyprus. Another held unusually large Black Sea amphoras dating to the second century A.D. The third featured what researchers have dubbed “Sinopian carrots,” amphoras from the Turkish Black Sea town of Sinop, shaped like carrots at the base.
Samples from the wrecks have been sent to a laboratory in Athens for analysis, as researchers work to determine exactly what these ships were transporting when Fourni’s waters claimed them.
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