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In June 1999, IFE mounted an expedition to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The expedition team included archaeologists from the Leon Levy Expedition at Ashkelon under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Stager of Harvard University. Dr. Ballard, Project Leader for the Expedition, was joined by oceanographers and engineers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University. The team surveyed two ancient shipwrecks at a depth of more than 1000 feet. The ships are the oldest vessels ever discovered in the deep sea.
The first ancient shipwreck has been named after the ancient goddess Tanit. It was found in 400 meters of water. Four hundred amphoras could be seen on the upper visible surface. The only period that particular amphora style could be is 700-750 B.C. Each amphora carried 18-19 liter (5 gallons) of liquid, meaning that the ship carried an estimated 11 tons of liquid, which Dr. Larry Stager theorizes was wine. The amphoras have small handles, which would have been used to rope them all together during transit. A 1.5-meter, one-hole stone anchor was found. It is the first Iron Age anchor that can be put in the context of a ship. The ship is an estimated 16 meters long and one-third of that length wide. This shape is documented in models from that time period, which are characterized by the 1:3 ratio of length to width.
The second wreck, which the team named Elissa, contained 350 visible amphoras amid chaos of shrimp. This ship is circa 750 B.C. There are two anchors amidships on each side of the vessel. The team found galley equipment and ballast stones in the bow end. The ship is estimated to be 18 meters long and 6 meters wide, again with a 1:3 ratio typical of ships from that era. The team also found a grinding bowl that was a possible import, cooking pots, a challis and incense stand, and wine decanters that identify the vessel as Phoenician. The team used Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's MEDEA/JASON Remotely operated vehicle system to create a photographic mosaic of the shipwrecks. They also used the DSL-120 side-scan sonar. The combination of these two imaging systems provided a detailed map of each shipwreck for the archaeological team.
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