Have research will travel: Shipwreck Ahoy!

Yo-ho-ho mateys! This blog post be about shipwrecks, below ye can read to your heart's merriment about the three most interesting shipwrecks as defined by Archaeology magazine. The magazine lists the top ten and discusses them so, to learn more I suggest ye cough up some doubloons and by the issue.

The first one we look at is off the coast of Turkey, at Cape Gelidonya. It is from the Bronze Age meaning it is quite old, in fact it is one of the oldest shipwrecks discovered to this day. The shipwreck at Cape Gelidona, excavated by the father of underwater archaeology George Bass was the first ancient shipwreck to be excavated in its entirety by archaeologists. It was either Cypriot or Syrian in origin and was a treasure trove of Bronze age weapons, tools and trinkets.

The first Phoenician ship ever excavated is off the shores of Spain and dates over 2000 years ago. It is close to the coast of Cartagena and was brought up under the supervision of Mark Polzer and Juan Piñedo Reyes. The contents of ths ship were more than just bronze artifacts but also pine nuts and ivory tusks. This ship, like the one off Cape Gelidonya helped to cement the notion that trade was primarily done by the sea and these ships helped to connect far off cultures.

And now to tell a tale of ancient pirates, there is a Greek merchant vessel found close to the island of Cyprus. It sailed around 330BC and was attacked by pirates! Archaeologists can tell that piracy was the cause of the ships sinking due to eight iron spear points that were found embedded in the ship's hull. The excavation of this Kyrenian ship is also amazing because it's excavated hull was used in Experimental Archaeology (that being the application of past skills being recreated in present day). The Kyrenia II has visited New York, Japan and West Germany in the late 80s.

Now quite unfortunately these amazing wrecks are in museums quite far away but, if you are like me and live in Florida there are some amazing Spanish shipwrecks just down the road in Key West. There is even a great museum down there, the Key West Shipwreck Museum where treasure plundered over the years has been collected and displayed. If you've not been yet I definitely suggest you go down there and check it out. Or for the divers out there check out this amazing map, there are so many wrecks out there just waiting to be explored!!!! See the "Florida Keys Wreck Guide" in the references.

So far I have explored the Spiegel Grove and the USCGC Bibb, what wrecks have you seen? What wrecks would you like to visit? Should we pull these wrecks out and put them into museums or leave them in the ocean where they could stand to last longer in preservation?