About 60 ships, dating back to Byzantine times in the 19th century, more than 2,500 years ago were discovered in the blue waters of the Black Sea. It has been described as a "ship graveyard" because of the large number of ships, and the vast majority is in an incredible state of conservation.
The three-year research project, conducted by the Maritime Archeology Center at the University of Southampton and funded by the Education Improvement Fund, is one of the largest maritime archaeological projects never organized.
But the original project was not to look for boats. The researchers undertook to carry out geophysical studies of the Black Sea to study the effects of climate change and how it had changed the environment along the Bulgarian coast.
The oldest ship they found date from the 4-5 century and is believed to be from the Roman Empire; also, were found from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. In total, they cover more than 2,500 years of history and offer a fascinating vision of maritime routes and their traditions.
The researchers cataloged the discovery as "unique" because the locations of the ships reveal commercial trends, wars and the era of communication, and the structural drawings of ships and features that did not know it knew the season . "We've never seen anything like this," says Dr. Kroum Batchvarov of the University of Connecticut.
