A 2,000-year-old shipwreck with a cargo full of ceramic goods has been discovered off the coast of Adrasan in Turkey. Located at depths of 120 to 150 feet, the ship sank so tidily that thousands of nested bowls, plates and pots remained perfectly stacked.
The plates and bowls are in excellent condition, their original colors and features preserved with the help of an unusual protective technique: they were coated in raw clay. No other examples of this technique and a full cargo attesting to its effectiveness have ever been found before. Because so many of the ceramics have survived in their original positions, they provide invaluable insight into production, packaging and shipping of consumer goods in antiquity.
Selections from this shipwreck and others will find a new home in the future Mediterranean Underwater Archaeology Museum. Construction begins this summer. After the excavation is complete, part of the wreck site with its clusters of ceramics will be opened to diving tourism.
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