The Department of Antiquities of the Republic of Cyprus announced yesterday the discovery of a shipwreck off the coast of the town of Protaras, in the southeast of the island, by members of the Maritime Archaeological Research Laboratory of the University of Cyprus.
A team of archaeologists and volunteers from the University are already working on the documentation and protection of the site, led by Dr. Stella Demesticha, professor of maritime archaeology, and in collaboration with the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Antiquities of the Cypriot University. .
The wreck corresponds to a Roman ship loaded with amphorae that transported products, probably from Syria and Cilicia.
Amphorae are ceramic containers with two handles and a long, narrow neck, used from the 15th century B.C. to store and transport products such as grapes, wine, olives, oil, cereals or fish
It would be the first intact Roman shipwreck found in Cyprus, and its study will serve to shed new light on the breadth and magnitude of maritime trade between Cyprus and the rest of the Roman provinces in the eastern Mediterranean.
In 2007, another wreck was found off the coast of the town of Mazotos, this time corresponding to the late classical Greek period of the mid-4th century BC, with a shipment of wine amphorae from Phoenicia.