The Gozo Phoenician shipwreck is a seventh-century-BC

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

of a

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their hist ...

n trade ship lying at a depth of . The wreck was discovered in 2007 by a team of French scientists during a sonar survey off the coast of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It li ...

's Gozo island. The Gozo shipwreck archaeological excavation is the first maritime archaeological survey to explore shipwrecks beyond a depth of .

Historical background

The Phoenicians, a

thalassocratic A thalassocracy or thalattocracy sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples ...

people known for trading and shipbuilding, had a long-standing presence in, and influence on the history of, the Maltese islands. From the middle of the second millennium BC, the Phoenicians undertook seaborne traffic from their mainland cities on the coast of modern-day

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

; their far-reaching trade routes spanned from the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. The Phoenicians built trade outposts and colonies throughout the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

to facilitate the supply and storage of raw materials and goods. Sometime after 1000 BC, Phoenician traders colonized the Maltese islands that were conveniently located at the center of the Mediterranean between Europe and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

. They inhabited the area now known as

Mdina Mdina ( mt, L-Imdina ; phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤈, Maleṭ; grc, Μελίττη, Melíttē; ar, مدينة, Madīnah; ), also known by its Italian-language titles ("Old City") and ("Notable City"), is a fortified city in the Northern Region of Ma ...

and its surrounding town of

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...

which they called '' Maleth''. The area came under the control of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cl ...

after the fall of Tyre in 332 BC. Punic influence remained on the Maltese islands during the early Roman era, as demonstrated by the famous second century BC

Cippi of Melqart The Cippi of Melqart are a pair of Phoenicians, Phoenician marble cippus, cippi that were unearthed in Malta under undocumented circumstances and dated to the 2nd century BC. These are votive offerings to the god Melqart, and are inscribed in t ...

that were pivotal in deciphering the

Phoenician language Phoenician ( ) is an extinct Canaanite Semitic language originally spoken in the region surrounding the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Extensive Tyro-Sidonian trade and commercial dominance led to Phoenician becoming a lingua franca of the maritime ...

Phoenician shipwrecks

There are about six Phoenician shipwreck sites datable from the eighth to the sixth century BC in the Mediterranean. Two of these are located off the coast of Palestine/Israel, at a depth of ~, three in shallow waters facing the Spanish coast and one in France.

Location and discovery

The Gozo shipwreck was discovered in 2007 by a team of the French National Research Agency (ANR) during a seabed survey around off the coast of

Xlendi Xlendi is an urban village in Malta situated in the south west of the island of Gozo. It is surrounded by the villages of Munxar, Fontana and Kerċem. The village is administered by Munxar, but has its own coat of arms and motto. From March 2 ...

, on the Maltese island of

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After ...

. The team detected sonar anomalies at a depth of , prompting further investigation that led to the discovery of a sunken Phoenician trade ship with its well-preserved cargo dating to the seventh century BC. The Gozo shipwreck archaeological excavation is the first maritime archaeological survey to explore shipwrecks beyond a depth of . Further archaeological research off the coast of Malta was conducted by the ANR's GROPLAN project in collaboration with the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Associat ...

and

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

Description

The shipwreck is . Archaeological artifacts are buried under up to of sediment. The ship remains and its upper layer of cargo lay exposed above a relatively flat seabed of coarse sand; it consists of

quern-stone Quern-stones are stone tools for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a saddle quern, while the upper mobile stone is called a muller, rubber or handstone. The ...

s and

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ...

containers used to transport wine, olive oil, and other consumables. Quern-stones, used to grind grains, were stored at both ends of the ship; they were discovered in pristine condition, indicating that they were never used and were destined for trade. Studies show that the grinding stones were made from volcanic rock sourced in

Pantelleria Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunis ...

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

. The wreck site is very well-preserved, save for some minor damage caused by local fishermen's bottom-fishing techniques.

Cargo and artifacts

Digital mapping and high resolution imaging of the site and of the visible artifacts was done in 2014 by an international team of scientists. The survey was performed using a manned

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...

that was deployed to produce a 3D photogrammetric image, which helped identify at least seven types of ceramic vessels. In 2016–2017, exploration of the wreckage resulted in the recovery of 12 objects, including uniquely shaped urns that appear to have been made on the island of Gozo. Divers supervised by maritime archeologists from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the

also recovered six intact ceramic objects numerous ceramic shards, among which were Tyrrhenian-style amphorae typical of Italy and western

Artifact recovery challenges

The extraction of artifacts from other parts of the ship proved difficult due to the depth of the shipwreck site. To facilitate artifact surfacing, a

mooring A mooring is any permanent structure to which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An ''anc ...

dead weight was sunk to anchor the researcher's ship close to the shipwreck site. It took experienced divers eight minutes to reach the site, where they could stay for no longer than 14 minutes; surfacing objects took an additional two and a half hours.

Conservation

In June 2021, Maltese culture minister José Herrera discussed options to lift the shipwreck from the bottom of the sea, and exhibit it at the planned Gozo Museum or another, standalone museum. Another option the minister discussed is to leave the ship in place as an underwater tourist attraction.

References

{{reflist

External links

L'Università ta' Malta – Phoenician shipwreck project , Exploring the Phoenician Shipwreck off the coast of Xlendi. Gozo
* http://www.lsis.org/groplan/article/art_Xlendi.html Ancient shipwrecks Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Archaeological discoveries in Malta 2007 archaeological discoveries Shipwrecks of Malta Gozo 2007 in Malta Phoenician shipwrecks Phoenician pottery Trade in Phoenicia