An underwater excavation carried out by an Egyptian-French mission operating the sunken city of Heracleion in Abu Qir, led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), has revealed further lost treasures in the form of a military vessel and an ancient Greek funerary complex. The vessel was a sort of rowing ship with a large sail, evidenced from a mast base of considerable dimensions. Some typical Ancient Egyptian shipbuilding features, together with the evidence for wood reuse, indicate that the ship was built in Egypt. Those were destroyed simultaneously with the loss of the temple, and their remains were found mixed with those of the Egyptian temple in pristine preservation. The ancient city of Thônis-Heracleion was for centuries the largest port of Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea before the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 331BC.

Source: Egypt Independent July 20, 2021 14:03 UTC