“They shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.” So reads the blessing Moses gives to the tribe of Zebulon in the penultimate chapter of Deuteronomy. Students of the ancient Near East have in recent years used the latest technology to dig not just under the ground, but also on the bottom of the Mediterranean to get a better sense of these ancient treasures. Leading the effort is Assaf Yasur-Landau, the director of the University of Haifa’s Institute for Maritime Studies. Melanie Lidman writes:
In May, Yasur-Landau oversaw the first excavations of two shipwrecks in the Dor Beach lagoon, one from the Persian period, from around 550 BCE, and one from the Iron Age, around 1000 BCE. During the three-week dive season, [he and his team] uncovered pieces of pottery from 3,000 years ago and are trying to determine if they’ve discovered the infrastructure for an early port or just the detritus of old shipwrecks, Yasur-Landau said. In the fall, they will dive again for another three-week season to try to explore the ruins further.
Israel has always been a hub for marine activity, from the first Mediterranean fishing villages dating from around 10,000 BCE to ancient Roman ports like Caesarea to the ships filled with Jewish refugees trying to evade the British blockade after World War II.
But excavating items and ships that sank to the sea floor thousands of years ago is a much more complicated process than excavating an archaeological site on land. It’s also far more expensive, requiring boats, sand dredgers, scuba equipment, and a highly trained team with a very specific skill set. . . . But while underwater conditions are challenging, they’re also exceptionally good at preserving things that are nearly impossible to find on land, including organic materials such as wood, ropes, and straw mats.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/marine-excavations-offer-glimpse-into-ancient-history-preserved-under-the-sea/