The Gozo Phoenician shipwreck is a seventh-century-BC

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

of a

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n trade ship lying at a depth of . The wreck was discovered in 2007 during a

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

survey off the coast of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Gozo island Gozo ( ), known in antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago. As ...

. Since 2014 it has been the object of a multidisciplinary project led by University of Malta along with many other national and international entities. The Gozo shipwreck archaeological excavation is the first maritime archaeological survey to explore shipwrecks with divers beyond a depth of .

Historical background

The Phoenicians, a thalassocratic people known for trading and shipbuilding, had a long-standing presence in, and influence on the history of, the Maltese islands. From the middle of the second millennium BC, the Phoenicians undertook seaborne traffic from their mainland cities on the coast of modern-day

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

; their far-reaching trade routes spanned from the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. The Phoenicians built trade outposts and colonies throughout the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

to facilitate the supply and storage of raw materials and goods. Sometime after 1000 BC, Phoenician traders colonized the Maltese islands that were conveniently located at the center of the Mediterranean between

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. They inhabited the area now known as

Mdina Mdina ( ; ), also known by its Italian epithets ("Old City") and ("Notable City"), is a fortifications of Mdina, fortified city in the Western Region, Malta, Western Region of Malta which served as the island's former capital, from antiquity ...

and its surrounding town of

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

which they called '' Maleth''. The area came under the control of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

after the fall of Tyre in 332 BC.

Punic The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' ...

influence remained on the Maltese islands during the early Roman era, as demonstrated by the famous second century BC

Cippi of Melqart The Cippi of Melqart are a pair of Phoenician marble cippi that were unearthed in Malta under undocumented circumstances and dated to the 2nd century BC. These are votive offerings to the god Melqart, and are inscribed in two languages, Ancie ...

that were pivotal in deciphering the

Phoenician language Phoenician ( ; ) is an extinct language, extinct Canaanite languages, Canaanite Semitic language originally spoken in the region surrounding the cities of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre and Sidon. Extensive Tyro-Sidonian trade and commercial dominance le ...

Phoenician shipwrecks

There are about six Phoenician shipwreck sites datable from the eighth to the sixth century BC in the Mediterranean. Two of these are located off the coast of Palestine/Israel, at a depth of ~, three in shallow waters facing the Spanish coast and one in France.

Location and discovery

The Gozo shipwreck was discovered in 2007 by a team led by University of Malta during a seabed survey around off the coast of Xlendi, on the Maltese island of

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

. The team detected sonar anomalies at a depth of , prompting further investigation that led to the discovery of a sunken Phoenician trade ship with its well-preserved cargo dating to the seventh century BC. The Gozo shipwreck archaeological excavation is the first maritime archaeological survey to explore shipwrecks beyond a depth of . Further archaeological research off the coast of Malta was conducted by the ANR's GROPLAN project in collaboration with the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association, ...

and

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Description

The shipwreck is . Archaeological artifacts are buried under up to of sediment. The ship remains and its upper layer of cargo lay exposed above a relatively flat seabed of coarse sand; it consists of

quern-stone A quern-stone is a stone tool for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials, especially for various types of grains. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a ''saddle quern'', while the upper mobile st ...

s and

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

containers used to transport wine, olive oil, and other consumables. Quern-stones, used to grind grains, were stored at both ends of the ship; they were discovered in pristine condition, indicating that they were never used and were destined for trade. Studies show that the grinding stones were made from volcanic rock sourced in

Pantelleria Pantelleria (; ), known in ancient times as Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunisian coast. On clear days Tunisia is visible from the ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. The wreck site is very well-preserved, save for some minor damage caused by local fishermen's bottom-fishing techniques.

Cargo and artifacts

Digital mapping and high resolution imaging of the site and of the visible artifacts was done in 2014 by an international team of scientists. The survey was performed using a crewed

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

that was deployed to produce a 3D photogrammetric image, which helped identify at least seven types of ceramic vessels. In 2016–2017, exploration of the wreckage resulted in the recovery of 12 objects, including uniquely shaped urns that appear to have been made on the island of Gozo. Divers supervised by maritime archeologists from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the

also recovered six intact ceramic objects numerous ceramic shards, among which were Tyrrhenian-style amphorae typical of Italy and western

Artifact recovery challenges

The extraction of artifacts from other parts of the ship proved difficult due to the depth of the shipwreck site. To facilitate artifact surfacing, a

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a seaborne vessel (such as a boat, ship, or amphibious aircraft) may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to ...

dead weight was sunk to anchor the researcher's ship close to the shipwreck site. It took experienced divers eight minutes to reach the site, where they could stay for no longer than 14 minutes; surfacing objects took an additional two and a half hours.

Conservation

In June 2021, Maltese culture minister José Herrera discussed options to lift the shipwreck from the bottom of the sea, and exhibit it at the planned Gozo Museum or another, standalone museum. Another option the minister discussed is to leave the ship in place as an underwater tourist attraction.

References

External links

* https://phoenicianshipwreck.org/
L'Università ta' Malta – Phoenician shipwreck project , Exploring the Phoenician Shipwreck off the coast of Xlendi. Gozo

{{Ancient seafaring Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Archaeological discoveries in Malta 2007 archaeological discoveries Shipwrecks of Malta Gozo 2007 in Malta Phoenician shipwrecks Phoenician pottery Trade in Phoenicia