Underwater Archaeological Research off the Coast of the Syrian Arab Republic

Navigation off the coast of the Syria has about five millennia. There are ancient ports and shipwrecks. Despite the enormous prospects of conducting underwater archaeological research in the water area of Syria systematic marine surveys has not yet been carried out so far. The pioneer such work in this region was the well-known underwater archaeologist O. Frost. In the 60s of the XXth century AD she seriously studied the ancient ports of the coast of Lebanon and Syria. During the study of the Arwad ancient port constructions were carried out, a topographic plan for their location was compiled. The most successful work was carried out by the Syrian-Japanese expedition in the second half of the 80s under S. Tanabe. Work began in 1985 and lasted three seasons. On the seabed, surviving ship structures were found. The cargo was made up of amphoras (more than five thousand). In order to date and study the discovered object, fragments of its wooden structures and amphorae were raised to the surface. Analysis of the material made it possible to date the discovered ship of the XIIIth century AD. In October 2019 it was concluded an agreement to create a Russian archaeological mission and conduct joint Syrian-Russian underwater archaeological research in the territorial waters of the Syrian Arab Republic. Parties to the agreement are the Sevastopol State University and the Department of Antiquities and Museums of the Ministry of Culture of the SAR. In December 2019 the first season of underwater archaeological research was conducted

Ancient history · Archaeology · Christian ministry · Geography · Middle East · Underwater · Underwater archaeology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Engineering · History · Marine and environmental studies · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology