Around 800 Roman amphorae dating to the end of the 6th or the 7th century AD have been found scattered in Akrotiri-Dreamers Bay in Cyprus.
This discovery has also confirmed the shipwreck of a substantial vessel for that period, the international edition of Tornos News reports.
The most important result of the 2019 season was confirmation that the eastern concentration of largely homogenous ceramics located on an elevated, rocky outcrop to the east of the breakwater and the sheltered channel, was indeed a shipwreck
The survey was carried out by staff from the University of Southampton, Centre for Maritime Archaeology, as part of the Ancient Akrotiri Project, an ongoing collaborative research project on the peninsula conducted since 2015 and led by the University of Leicester.
Survey conducted by divers using underwater scooters, enabled wider coverage of the offshore approaches, identified new finds including numerous stone anchors and what appears to be the remains of a wreck carrying roof tiles, still of uncertain date.
In 2018, their search documented the remains of the ancient breakwater submerged some 1-4m beneath the water. The team suspected that this dispersed and concreted concentration of largely homogenous ceramics located on an elevated, rocky outcrop to the east of the breakwater and the sheltered channel, was the remains of a shipwreck.
Between September 8 and 19, a second season of underwater investigation was conducted at Dreamer’s Bay on the southern shores of the Akrotiri Peninsula. The primary focus of the 2019 season was to complete a broader survey of the entire bay and the offshore approaches, and in particular to investigate an area to the east of the breakwater where a large amount of pottery was located in the previous season.
On Thursday 5 Dec, ceramics expert Dr Stella Demesticha of the University of Cyprus on Thursday confirmed various findings at the site as dating back to the end of the 6th or the 7th century AD and that the concentration of ceramics was indeed a shipwreck.
