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From KyivPost

Marine archeologists of the Khortytsia National Reserve in Zaporizhia have raised an ancient Cossack warship, a Cossack oak vessel, which had been lying beneath the waters of the reserve for some three centuries.

Director of the Pivdenhidroarkheolohia State Enterprise Valeriy Nefedov told Interfax-Ukraine that the 18-meter long Cossack "oak"-type vessel is a "veteran" of the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739.

"The ancient vessel was discovered in waters near Khortytsia Island in 1999. But it was impossible to lift it due to the lack of assets. Over this time the unique archeological find, which remained lying at a depth of six meters in the waters of the Khortytsia beach zone, started decaying and needed to be urgently lift from the bottom and preserved," he said.

Some 80% of the ancient warship was preserved for three centuries due to sand and mud covering it on the bottom of the Dnipro River.

Nefedov also said that "the Zaporizhia oak" was lifted for the first time in Ukraine and "any museum of the world could only dream of such an exhibit."

"The Cossack "oak" vessel was constructed in the 18th century in keeping with the best traditions of Zaporizhia Cossacks' shipbuilding. Despite its hull being made of oak, it is light and maneuverable, and is thought to be a prototype of modern warships.

Using "oaks" the Cossacks successfully countered the Ottoman navy in the Black Sea," he said.

Nefedov also noted that after preservation, the Cossack vessel would be passed to the Museum of Ancient Navigation at Khortytsia Island, which already exhibits several ancient Cossack ships found in the last ten years in the water area of the Cossack shipyard at Khortytsia.

Photo: Shandong Business Daily

By People's Daily Online

An ancient sunken ship was discovered at a construction site in Heze in east China's Shandong Province in September 2010, which was later covered by domestic media.

The ship was made in the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) and is the oldest sunken ship ever found in Shandong, according to information from a press conference jointly held by the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Heze Municipal Government and the Heze Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology on Nov. 23.

Archaeologists salvaged some 110 cultural relics, including a nearly intact blue-and-white vase with dragon designs worth well over 100 million yuan, from the ship.

An archaeologist, who declined to give his name, said that the cultural relics unearthed from the ship are priceless even if measured in money alone, especially three Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelains found in the rear cabins. The 42-centimeter-high blue-and-white vase with dragon designs is worth well over 100 million yuan, which is rare in China.

"I once said jokingly that if the vase is priced at 200 million yuan, or the 110 cultural relics are priced at a combined 1 billion yuan, I will immediately apply for a loan to buy them," the archaeologist added.

Why are the Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelains so valuable?

An expert explained that the techniques applied in blue-and-white porcelains did not mature until the Yuan dynasty, which created the extremely high artistic and ornamental value of the Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelains, and they are rare enough, so their prices have been rising steadily over the past hundreds of years.

"According to available statistics, there are only 200 to 300 Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelains in existence in China, with only fewer than 20 in Shandong. Therefore, this nearly intact blue-and-white vase is undoubtedly the gem of the cultural relics in the sunken ship," the expert said.

From Ana Mpa

Excavation works on a sunken vessel dated to the post Hellenistic era off the resort town of Nea Styra, in the southern Evoikos Gulf separating the mainland and large Evia (Euboea) island, were concluded for 2010.

The ancient vessel was loaded with amphorae, considered extremely interesting, as the cargo, along with wooden remnants. The latter's presence indicates that the vessel also transported high-value products, possibly sculptures in whole or in parts.

Amphorae Brindisi and vases filled with foods and wines, bronze and iron nails and small parts of copper statues of natural size, along with two legs of a day-bed, were collected and lifted from the vessel.ana-mpa

The wreck was located in 2007 at a depth of 40 to 45 metres. Thirty-six divers, researchers, archaeologists, photographers, architects and other experts took part in the underwater excavation.ana-mpa

The research was organised by the Maritime Antiquities Ephorate and the Institute of Maritime Archaeological Research.

Excavation works will continue and in 2011.

By Eva Visperas - The Philippine Star

Residents of this booming town in the eastern part of this province accidentally retrieved a “treasure” that will give pride here for its archaeological and historical significance.

It was not however, a pot of gold, but an unfinished centuries-old dugout boat found last week by residents in Barangay Casanicolasan this town in Lagasit River, about 500 meters away from the Agno River, the third largest river in Luzon and fifth biggest nationwide.

It was actually a boy who saw it while swimming in the river and he hurriedly called the help of the local folks. The curious men, about 30 of them, led by Ronaldo de los Reyes, tried to retrieve the treasure manually with the aid of two carabaos for three days but to no avail.

Then, they decided to seek the help of Mayor Ricardo Revita to send a heavy equipment to lift it from the river and bring it to the town hall.

With the size of the wood alone and its kind, excluding its submersion in the river, Revita said one can see that it is hundreds of years old.

Revita said he believes this relic that looks like an unfinished banca is not kolloong, an Ilocano term for a material used for pounding rice by the people because of its size, as he said the people were small then and could not pound rice using this big artifact.

He has written a letter and sent someone to coordinate with the National Historical Institute and the National Museum to conduct carbon dating to determine its possible age and the kind of wood it was made of.

It weighed more than five tons, measures eight meters long plus two meters wide in its front and back and a height of up to 1.5 meters. It can load 10 carabaos at the same time, the mayor said.

Revita believes it was part of an unfinished dugout boat, a big banca.

Revita said despite its heavy weight and size, this will float in the river or sea because of the force of water (buoyancy) that serves as the balance of the boat while sailing.

He said its retrieval is a testament that old people used to live then along the river banks and this material was consistent with old stories that people used bancas as their means of transportation.

By Matt Deans - Coffs Coast Advocate

The history of shipwrecks of the Solitary Islands Marine Park, underwater Gallipoli battlefields and even a Japanese midget submarine will be revealed at the National Marine Science Centre later this week.

The deputy director of the Heritage Branch, NSW Department of Planning and NSW State Government Maritime Archaeologist, Tim Smith, will share his knowledge of some of the historic wrecks he has been involved in identifying, mapping in Australia and internationally.

Marine Parks Authority officer Chantelle Burns said maritime archaeology is important because it helps us to explore our past and protect it for future generations.

“The Solitary Islands Marine Park has a number important shipwreck sites like that of the Buster, sometimes exposed and visible on Woolgoolga Beach,” Ms Burns said.

“The 310-ton timber barquentine Buster was driven ashore near the mouth of Woolgoolga Lake during a storm in 1893.”

Mr Smith’s presentation will focus on the maritime heritage of the Solitary Islands and also some of his recent work mapping the underwater battlefield at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey.

He will also provide an insight into the ongoing management of the Japanese midget submarine site M24, which sank off Sydney in 1942.

His presentation on Thursday will begin at 6.30pm and is free.

By Emma Judd - Portsmouth

A team of divers has been given an award for their work investigating D-Day shipwrecks in the Solent.

The 10 divers from Southsea Sub-Aqua Club have been working on the Neptune Wrecks project for around 18 months, solving mysteries surrounding the wrecks - they even discovered a 500lb bomb last year.

They were invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the British Sub-Aqua Duke of Edinburgh Prize award from Prince Philip in recognition of their work.

Alison Mayor, Neptune Wrecks team leader, said: 'Receiving the Duke of Edinburgh award is certainly the pinnacle of my diving career so far and we are all very proud to have been selected to receive the award against some other excellent projects.

'The Duke of Edinburgh was charming and very interested in our project.'

The project was named after Operation Neptune, the maritime stage of the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France during the Second World War.

Divers looked at how armoured tanks and bulldozers, which had been destined for Juno beach, had come to rest three miles southwest of Selsey Bill.

The team discovered the vehicles had actually come from a landing craft tank which had capsized several miles away.

It was during a survey of the area in August last year that the team discovered the large aerial bomb, which was then towed several miles away and detonated by the Royal Naval Bomb Disposal Team.

Alison added: 'With the help and support of the British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust and others we were able to investigate these sites, and by relating what we found with documentary evidence we put the record straight for this one small but traumatic event on the morning of D-Day on this side of the English Channel.

'This has been a fantastic experience for me and members of Southsea who have all benefited in one way or another from their involvement in the projects. Our work has brought club members together with a common focus and goal, and divers are rightly proud of their achievements.'

By Eric Williams - Cape Cod Times

The dean of Cape shipwreck historians thinks that the wooden timbers found on Nauset Beach recently belong to the schooner Montclair, a three-masted cargo vessel that broke apart on the outer bars in March 1927.

William Quinn of Orleans, said the method of construction of the timbers he saw recently at Nauset Beach jibes with what he knows about the wreck of the Montclair, which was bound from Halifax, Nova Scotia to New York when fate intervened and five men died in icy, storm-churned waters.

covered again by tide and sand. But Quinn cited the presence of tapered dowels and bronze spikes at the current-day wreck site as evidence that leads him to believe the Montclair has surfaced from the sand again.

The historian was also on scene when the Montclair made an appearance on Nauset Beach in 1957. “I think it's one and the same,” said Quinn.

Five men perished within site of shore when the Montclair went down just off Nauset Beach, according to Quinn's book, “Shipwrecks Around Cape Cod.”

From RT

Two fishermen have found more than a kilo of ancient gold jewelry, buried on the bottom of the river. Experts believe the find could be about 2,000 years old.

The young men said that they had found the treasure while fishing in Bakhtemir river in Russia’s Astrakhan region. What they first though to be just a glittering object, turned out to be an ancient bracelet and necklace.

”The catch turned out to be a necklace with a decoration of a lying animal, similar to a cat and a spiral bracelet in the same style. The unconnected ends are topped by gryphon heads,” Astrakhan authorities reported.

They added that the river’s flow may have destroyed a burial site from between the fourth century BC to the fourth or fifth century AD.

The fishermen, who handed their valuable catch to the authorities, will receive a reward which could reach up to 50 per cent of the treasure’s estimated cost.

The evaluation of the jewelry is still to come, while the bracelet and necklace have been handed over to Astrakhan State Museum of History and Architecture.