Archaeologists excavating the underwater metropolis of Thônis-Heracleion in Egypt’s harbor of Abū Qīr unearthed wicker fruit baskets dating from the fourth century BCE.
Iwwerraschend enthalen d'Glasen nach ëmmer Doum Nëss an Drauwe Somen, d'Fruucht vun engem afrikanesche Palme, dee vun den antike Ägypter als helleg ugesi gëtt.
"Näischt gouf gestéiert", seet de Marinearchäolog Franck Goddio dem Dalya Alberge vum Guardian. "Et war ganz opfälleg Kuerf vu Friichten ze gesinn."
De Goddio a seng Kollegen um European Institute for Underwater Archeology (IEASM) hunn d'Container an Zesummenaarbecht mam Ägypten Ministère fir Tourismus an Antiquitéiten entdeckt. Fuerscher hunn d'antike Mëttelmier Hafenstad Thônis-Heracleion zanter hirer Neientdeckung am Joer 2001 iwwerpréift, laut Egypt Independent.
The baskets were stored in an underground room and may have been funerary offerings reports the Greek City Times. Nearby, the researchers found a 197- by 26-foot tumulus or burial mound, and an extravagant array of Greek funerary goods likely left by merchants and mercenaries living in the area.
“Everywhere we found evidence of burned material,” says Goddio in a statement, as quoted by CNN’s Radina Gigova. “Spectacular ceremonies must have taken place there. The place must have been sealed for hundreds of years as we have found no objects from later than the early fourth century BCE, even though the city lived on for several hundred years after that.”
Aner Objeten, déi op oder ronderëm den Tumulus fonnt goufen, enthalen antike Keramik, Bronze Artefakte a Figuren, déi den egyptesche Gott Osiris weisen.
"Mir hunn Honnerte vun Depositioune aus Keramik fonnt", seet de Goddio dem Guardian. "Een iwwer deem aneren. Dëst sinn importéiert Keramik, rout op schwaarz Figuren.
Thônis-Heracleion was established in the ninth century B.C.E. Before the foundation of Alexandria about 331 BCE, the city functioned as the “obligatory port of entry into Egypt for all ships arriving from the Greek world,” according to Goddio’s website.
The thriving commercial center peaked between the sixth and fourth century BCE Structures fanned out from a central temple, with waterways linking various portions of the city. Houses and other religious structures stood on islands near Thônis-Heracleion
Once an epicenter for maritime commerce, the city sank into the Mediterranean in the eighth century CE. Some historians attribute the metropolis’ downfall to rising sea levels and collapsing, unstable sediment, as Reg Little wrote for Oxford Mail in 2022. Others posit that earthquakes and tidal waves caused a 42-square-mile segment of the Nile Delta to collapse into the sea, as per CNN.
As the Art Newspaper’s Emily Sharpe reported in 2022, experts once thought that Heracleion, referenced by Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BCE — was a separate city from Thônis, which is the site’s Egyptian name. A tablet found by Goddio’s team in 2001 helped researchers conclude that the two locations were the same.
D'Objeten aus de Ruine vum Thônis-Heracleion erholen ass eng ustrengend Aufgab wéinst de Schichten vu Schutzsediment déi se ofdecken.
"D'Zil ass sou vill wéi méiglech vun eiser Ausgruewung ze léieren ouni opdrénglech ze sinn," sot de Goddio der Art Newspaper am Joer 2022.
According to the Oxford Mail, other finds at Thônis-Heracleion include more than 700 antique anchors, gold coins and weights, and scores of small limestone sarcophagi holding the bones of mummified animals. Archaeologists discovered a well-preserved second-century BCE military vessel in a separate section of the city last month.
Weider Elementer sollen an Zukunft um Site entdeckt ginn, laut Experten. De Goddio huet dem Guardian gesot datt just 3% vun der begruewe Metropol an den 20 Joer no senger Neientdeckung studéiert goufen.
