Dr. Robert D. Ballard is arguably the most
acclaimed undersea explorer of his generation, and the Black Sea is
potentially the richest hunting ground for marine archaeologists on the
planet, so it is little wonder that Ballard has been so obsessed with
his work in the Black Sea. If his exploits in the
Black Sea are successful, they could unlock secrets of human settlement, trade, and even
mythology dating back 7,500 years.
Our story begins in around 5500 B.C., when the
Black Sea was most likely an inland freshwater lake separated from the
Mediterranean Sea by an earthen dam. Glacial melting at the end of the
Quarternary Ice Age caused the Mediterranean to overflow its boundaries
and, after centuries of pressure, finally overcome this dam, flooding
the lake and quickly expanding it into the saltwater body we now call
the Black Sea. Some scientists theorize that this event was the basis
for the
"Great Flood" myths found in many cultures, including the Judeo-Christian story of
Noah, the
Mesopotamian epic of
Gilgamesh, and the Greek myth of
Deucalion.
Beyond its mythical implications, however, the formation of the Black Sea created an environment ripe with
archaeological allure. First, if the flooding that created the Black
Sea occurred with anything approaching the speed depicted in flood
legends, it almost certainly overran and possibly preserved ancient
human settlements. Moreover, the unique origins of the Black Sea are the
most likely explanation for the presence of an anoxic, or "oxygenless,"
layer near its bottom. This anoxic layer is almost completely lifeless,
meaning it lacks the organisms that aid in the decomposition of wood
and cloth, which might have sunk to the bottom of the Black Sea. In
other words, ancient wooden shipwrecks can remain intact on the Black
Sea's floor thanks in part to the anoxic layer.
Enter Dr. Robert D. Ballard, perhaps the most
acclaimed shipwreck hunter in the world. Ballard's résumé reads like a
Who's Who of famous shipwrecks, including the 1985-1986 discovery and
exploration of the doomed luxury liner
Titanic; the 1989 discovery of the notorious World War II German battleship Bismarck; the 1998 discovery of the American World War II aircraft carrier Yorktown, which was lost at the
Battle of Midway; and the 2002 discovery of the U.S. Navy patrol
ship PT 109, which was commanded by the future U.S. president John F.
Kennedy and sank in 1943.
Ballard's Black Sea discoveries, however, have been
far more ancient than these high-profile 20th-century finds. Since the
late 1990s, Ballard has been following the unmistakable presence of
discarded amphorae--ancient clay jars used to ferry cargo on sailing
vessels--that litter the floor of the Black Sea. Sailors often tossed
the amphorae overboard to lighten the load of sinking vessels, which in
turn created "breadcrumb trails" leading directly to ancient shipwrecks.
Among Ballard's amphora-guided Black Sea finds are
three ancient shipwrecks and a possible site of preflood human
settlement. The settlement area, called Site 82, may appear to the
untrained eye to be nothing more than a collection of oddly shaped
stones, but archaeologists have found similar artifacts in
Neolithic and
Bronze Age settlements, suggesting that humans once inhabited an area now covered by 490 feet (150 meters) of water.
As to the shipwrecks, they include a 2,300-year-old
vessel--the oldest ever found in the Black Sea--and additional evidence
that naval trade from Greek,
Phoenician, and Roman vessels was common on the Black Sea and occurred as early as 450 A.D., during the
Byzantine period. Although analysis of these finds has barely begun,
in time the Black Sea may come to be regarded as the archaeological
equal of ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome-but only, that is, if scientists
like Dr. Ballard are there, beneath the waves, to prove it.
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