It could almost be described as biblical: the oldest evidence of a shipwreck ever found in the deep seas has been discovered off the north of Israel, dating back to the time of the Canaanites and the Old Testament.
The 3,400-year-old trading ship was found at a depth of 1,800 metres and it appears to transform our understanding of the skill and abilities of ancient mariners. Being 90km from the nearest shore, it shows that Bronze Age sailors were able to travel without a line of sight to the coast.
“This is a world-class history-changing discovery: this find reveals to us as never before the ancient mariners’ navigational skills,” said Jacob Shavit, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority Marine Unit. “To navigate they probably used
