Archaeologists running on a site of submerged ruins off the coast of Egypt have discovered wicker baskets filled with fruits dating back to the fourth century BC. C. , the Guardian reported on Monday.
The discovery made in the city of Thonis-Heracleion, a once bustling city that stood on the banks of the Nile, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Thonis-Heracleion for centuries was considered the largest Egyptian port in the region until Alexander the Great founded the coastal city of Alexandria in 331 BC. C.
The city, submerged after a series of earthquakes and tsunamis, learned two decades ago through the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, in one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent times.
Goddio told The Guardian that the fruit baskets were “amazing,” that they had been touched for more than 2000 years and that they were still filled with doum, the fruit of an African palm tree, as well as grape seeds.
“Nothing disturbed,” he said. It is very striking to see fruit baskets. “
– Jim Roberts (@nycjim) August 2, 2021
Last month, archaeologists discovered rare remains of a Greek army dispatch and complex underground burials at Thonis-Heracleion.
“An Egyptian-French project (. . . ) discovered the remains of an army sent from the Ptolemaic era and the remains of a Greek funeral dating from the fourth century BC,” Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said.
Flat bottomed with giant oars, a mast and sails, the 25-meter-long (82-foot-long) boat was used for navigation in the Nile Delta, according to initial studies.
Archaeologists say the shipment, which they say was intended to dock near the temple of Amon in the domain, sank as a result of the collapse of the ancient temple in an earthquake in the century BC. C.
“Discoveries of fast ships from this era are incredibly rare,” Goddio said.
Underwater archaeologists have also discovered a funerary complex in which the presence of Greek merchants appears at the end of the era of ancient Egypt.
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities stated that the Greeks ruled the domain at that time and had built funerary temples near the temple of Amon.
The remains of those temples have been discovered “in conditions” underwater, he added.
The latest discoveries bear witness to “the richness of the city’s temples that are now the waters of the Mediterranean Sea,” the ministry said.
As an environmental journalist for the Times of Israel, I track the facts and science behind climate replacement and environmental degradation, and criticize official policies that affect our future, and describe Israeli technologies that can be a component of the solution.
I am passionate about herbs globally and am discouraged by the unfortunate lack of awareness of environmental issues among the majority of the public and politicians in Israel.
I am proud to make my component to keep readers of the Times of Israel well informed about this important topic, which can and will lead to a replacement in politics.
Your support, through your club in the Times of Israel network, allows us to continue our vital work. Would you like to sign up for our network today?
Thank you,
Sue Surkes, environmental journalist
That’s why we come to paint every day, to provide expert readers like you with an essential policy of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other media, we haven’t established a paywall, but because the journalism we do is expensive, we invite readers for whom the Times of Israel has become vital to help with our paintings by joining the Times of Israel community.
For as little as $6 a month, you can help our quality journalism while enjoying the AD-FREE Times of Israel, and accessing exclusive content reserved for members of the Times of Israel community.