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- (CNN) -- The same deep-sea explorers
who discovered the Titanic have found an ancient time capsule off the coast
of Israel -- two well-preserved Phoenician ships dating from about 750
B.C.
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- The ships were carrying about 10 tons
of wine each when it is believed they sank in a violent storm in the Mediterranean
Sea about 2,700 years ago. They were found in remarkable condition, sitting
upright in about 1,500 feet of water.
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- "The great depths that exist in
the oceans, the absence of sunlight, the great pressures seem to preserve
history far more than we thought," said <http://cnn.com/NATURE/9906/25/ancient.ships/ballard.large.jpg
Robert Ballard, who headed up the search effort.
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- The researchers were able to date the
vessels by the mushroom-shaped lips on the large ceramic jugs used to carry
the wine, a Phoenician signature.
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- "Rarely, if ever, you find this
(type of jug) on land complete. Even if they are more or less complete
they have all been shattered," Ballard said. "You have to put
them together to make up the whole. Out here, the whole shipload of them
intact. It's marvelous!"
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- Ballard, who discovered the wreck of
the Titanic in 1985, believed the cargo ships were transporting wine from
the Phoenician city of <http://cnn.com/NATURE/9906/25/ancient.ships/lebanon.tyre.occupied.jpg
Tyre, now in Lebanon, to Egypt or the Phoenician city of <http://cnn.com/NATURE/9906/25/ancient.ships/tunisia.carthage.jpg
Carthage, in present-day Tunisia.
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- Also found were stone anchors, crockery
and incense stands for offering prayers to the weather gods.
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- The ancient vessels were found by an
underwater robot - the same robot used to find Titanic -- put in the sea
off the coast of Israel, with the aid of modern-day technology and a global
positioning satellite.
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- The longest ship, at 60-feet, is the
largest pre-classical vessel ever discovered. Older ships have been found
in recent years, but they were in shallower waters and were less well preserved.
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- Ballard's team has no plans to raise
the latest discoveries out of the sea, but researchers did recover 15 large
wine jugs from each vessel. They will be taken to Harvard University researchers
for further study.
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- Ballard says the answers to many ancient
mysteries may be found at sea, at depths unreachable until now.
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- "It's inevitable that all the great
ships will be found someday," he says.
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- CNN Headline News Correspondent Tammy
Hotchkiss contributed to this report.
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