The “incredible” discoveries in an ancient city submerged off the coast of Egypt have remained intact
Wicker baskets filled with fruits that survived the fourth century BC. C. y heaps of ancient pottery items and bronze treasures were found in the submerged ruins of the almost mythical city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt.
They have remained intact since the village disappeared by the waves at the time of the century BC.
Thonis-Heraclion, the Egyptian and Greek names of the city, for centuries was the largest Egyptian port in the Mediterranean before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC. C.
But the vast site of Aboukir Bay near Alexandria was forgotten until it was rediscovered by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio two decades ago, in one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent times.
The colossal statues were the treasures of an opulent civilization frozen in time and some of the finds were featured in a main exhibition at the British Museum in 2016.
Goddio surprised through the most recent discoveries. He told the Guardian that the fruit baskets were “amazing” as they hadn’t been touched for more than 2,000 years.
They were still filled with doum, the fruit of an African palm tree sacred to the ancient Egyptians, like grape seeds.
“Nothing disturbed,” he said. It is very striking to see fruit baskets. “
One explanation for their survival may simply be that they were placed in an underground room, Goddio said, pointing to an imaginable funeral connotation.
It is in a domain that Goddius and his team of archaeologists have discovered a vital burial mound (a mound raised over tombs), about 60 meters long by 8 meters wide, and sumptuous Greek funeral offerings.
They date back to the early fourth century BC. C. , when Greek merchants and mercenaries lived in Thonis-Heraclion. The city controlled the Egyptian front at the mouth of the Nile’s canopic arm. settle there at the end of the Pharaonic period, building his own shrines.
Goddio said of the barrow: “It is a kind of island surrounded by canals. In those canals, we discovered a number of bronze deposits, adding many statuettes of Osiris [the ancient Egyptian god of fertility]. “
“On this island, something completely different. We discovered piles of ceramic deposits. One on top of the other. These are imported ceramics, red figures on black from the attic.
The discoveries are even more intriguing as there were giant amounts of miniature pottery (ancient Greek examples, adding amphorae) under the barrow. Bronze items were discovered around the barrow, adding mirrors and statuettes.
Goddio also discovered enough evidence of fires, suggesting a “spectacular” rite that prevented other people from entering the site again. It turns out that it has been sealed for many years, as none of the items discovered were later than the beginning of the fourth year. century, the city lived for several hundred years.
“There’s something very here,” he said. This site would possibly have been used once, never before, never touched later, for an explanation of why we can’t perceive it right now. It’s a big mystery. “
He hopes to respond in some of the treasures, adding the well-preserved remains of a wooden banquet sofa, a giant attic vase and a gold amulet of “exquisite quality”.
At about 350 meters, archaeologists have also discovered an exclusive Ptolemaic kitchen, 25 meters long, which although built in the classical tradition, with spike-shroud joints, also elements of ancient Egyptian construction, with a flat-bottomed design that would have been much better for navigation on the Nile and in the delta.
The European Institute of Underwater Archaeology, run through Goddio, works largely with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Hilti Foundation. The discoveries will be studied and preserved before being exhibited in museums.
The prospect of new discoveries is tempting. Even after repeated excavations over more than two decades, Goddio estimates that about 3% of the domain has been explored so far.