Phoenician Shipwrecks

A team of oceanographers and archaeologists led by Robert D. Ballard of the Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Connecticut, and Lawrence Stager of Harvard University has found two ancient Phoenician shipwrecks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. Lying more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) below the surface, they are the oldest vessels ever discovered in the deep sea. The ships were most likely lost in a violent storm around 750 B.C., during the time of Homer. The expedition was partly sponsored by the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council.