Undersea excavation off Cyprus confirms Mediterranean diet

A recent undersea excavation by Cypriot archaeologists of a shipwreck estimated to be 2,500 years old has confirmed a large part of what is described as a Mediterranean diet, based on olive products along with wheat.

The finding has also shed more light on seafaring and commerce in the classical era.

The sunk ship, first located by amateur fishermen at a depth of 45 meters off the coast of south Cyprus, was a late classical period merchant vessel and was carrying a large quantity of wine amphorae, or clay jars.

They came mainly from the island of Chios and also from other north Aegean islands.

Photographic and drawing documentation on the wreck started in 2007 but the cargo of the ship was only recently taken off the bottom of the sea and moved to workshops of the Cyprus Archaeological Museum in the nearby city of Larnaca for conservation.

The important fact about the wreck was that its cargo remained intact in its original place on the ship's deck and the amphorae were not thrown around when it sank in the middle of the 4th century BC.

"The excavation sheds light on very important issues such as seafaring in Cyprus in antiquity, commerce between the Aegean and Cyprus, the types and sizes of the period's cargo ships,"the island state's Antiquities Department said in a statement.

Among the findings was a huge quantity of olive cores, thought to be part of the ship's provisions.

"An interesting piece of evidence that gives us information on the conditions under which the sailors of antiquity lived, are the large numbers of olive pips that were found during excavation, since these must have been part of the crew's food supply," said archeologists involved in the excavation.

Olives and olive products form a considerable part of the Mediterranean diet to the present day, along with wheat bread and wine.

Olive oil used to be the basis of some of the most ancient cosmetics made in Cyprus.

Apart from the cargo's amphorae, two lead rods with remains of wood were found. These used to belong to the tow of one of the ship's anchors.

"This especially rare find enhances the importance of the shipwreck and strengthens the possibilities of finding preserved wood from the ship's keel,"the statement said.

Excavating the area around the ship involves moving away huge quantities of sand and this will be ventured during future archaeological expeditions in the shipwreck's site.

Source: Xinhua