It wasn’t that long ago that the earliest human skeleton in the Americas was discovered by amateur divers, only for them to put it on social media and by the time excited scientists turned up it had been stolen. ![]() (c) Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruizĭespite the excitement garnered by such a find, the team is keeping the locations of the ships secret to protect them while they study them. “It's as if you are looking at a ship in a movie, with ropes still on the deck and carvings in the wood." Photogrammetric model of a ship dated back to the Ottoman period. In the middle of the Severn the wreck of an old cargo ship which sunk can be seen on low tide. “There's one medieval trading vessel where the towers on the bow and stern are pretty much still there,” Ed Parker, CEO of Black Sea MAP, said. The Ships Graveyard J10:59 AM Actually nearer the small village of Purton, many boats lie in the mud on the banks of the Severn, some concrete hulled boats still remain in good condition today, while the wooden ships slowly rot away. Luckily, below around 150 meters (492 feet), the Black Sea is anoxic, meaning the organisms that usually feast on anything organic cannot survive because there is little light or oxygen, so many of the ships are in surprisingly excellent condition. Researchers used ROVs to photograph and document their discoveries, in this case a Roman vessel. ![]() The researchers used remotely operated vehicles (ROV) with high-resolution 3D cameras as well as high-def cameras, a laser scanner, lights, and geophysical equipment to survey the seabed. You can still see the rope and tiller. Johan Rönnby/Black Sea MAP The graveyard is basically a water cove created by the Aulne River about the Pen Forn point near Landvennec and has a depth of about 10 metres. “This is history in the making unfolding before us.” Not bad for a 2,000-year-old Roman ship. Mainly used by the French Navy, the ship graveyard in Landvennec consists of military vessels. ![]() ‘‘We have never seen anything like this before,” said Dr Kroum Batchvarov, from the University of Connecticut, in an emailed statement. Researchers have called the discovery “unrivaled”, the ships’ locations revealing ancient patterns of trade, warfare, and communication as well as confirming structural ship design and features that could only have been guessed at or glimpsed in drawings before now.
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