By Thomas Holland –
A 3,400-year-old shipwreck was found recently 56 miles off the coast of Israel by an energy company performing a routine survey, confounding previous ideas about ship capabilities of the time.
“The ship seems to have sunk in crisis, either due to a storm or to an attempted piracy attack – a well-known occurrence in the Late Bronze Age,” Jacob Sharvit, head of the IAA’s marine unit, told CBN.
The sunken ship is believed to be the oldest in the world and has significance to biblical scholars because it plowed the seas during the time of Moses.
The London-based company Energean was taking a survey of a deep part of the ocean when they saw it.
Dr. Karnit Bahartan elaborated, “About a year ago, during a survey, we saw the unusual sight of what appeared to be a large pile of jugs heaped on the seafloor. We are in ongoing contact with the Israel Antiquities Authority, and when we sent them the images it turned out to be a sensational discovery, far beyond what we could imagine.”
Before this discovery it was thought that mariners during this time traveled to ports within line of sight to the coast to avoid getting lost. Because the shipwreck was found 56 miles from the coast, it proved that sailors had used celestial bodies to navigate, contrary to previous assumptions.
In addition to this, the ship seemed to have been sunk by a pirate attack, which means the ship most likely wasn’t lost due to a storm.
The ship was designed to navigate the trade route quickly. “The vessel type identified in the cargo was designed as the most efficient means of transporting relatively cheap and mass-produced products such as oil, wine, and other agricultural products such as fruit,” Sharvit noted.
IAA Director Eli Escusido said, “The important significance of these finds prompted a decision to exhibit these Canaanite vessels extracted from the sea floor, and thus to tell the public the story of this boat, in the framework of opening the Archaeological Campus for ‘sample taste’ tours this summer.”
“These visits will afford people a glimpse of this unique edifice, its mosaics, and laboratories,” he said.
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About this writer: Thomas Holland studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near Beverly Hills.
