Egypt: Archaeologists find 2,400 yr old fruit basket in sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion

Marking a stunning discovery, a team of archaeologists from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) uncovered a trove of historical treasures from the ancient sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion, located off the coast of Egypt. Amongst the items found were 2,400-year-old wicker baskets that still contained fruits and Greek ceramics. Speaking to The Guardian later, expedition leader Franck Goddio said that the baskets were filled with grape seeds and doum nut, an edible oval fruit, found in the Arabian peninsula and northern Africa. 

'Untouched for centuries' 

While the team has not been able to decipher how the fruits were preserved for more than 2,000 years, Goddio theorized that the ancient Egyptians might have been able to do it by keeping the fruits in an underground room, possibly with funerary connotation. “Everywhere we found evidence of burned material, Spectacular ceremonies must have taken place there”, he said, adding that it was astonishing that the found items remained untouched for hundreds of years. Furthermore, he also disclosed that they “found no objects from later than the early fourth century BCE, even though the city lived on for several hundred years after that. 

The city of Thonis-Heracleion was primarily ruled by Egyptians but Greeks were allowed to settle and built their own sanctuaries close to the massive temple of Amun.  However, researchers said that several earthquakes followed by tidal waves led to a 110-square-kilometer portion of the Nile delta collapsing under the sea, taking with it the cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus. Thousands of years later, IEASM “rediscovered” both the cites-Thonis-Heracleion in 2000 and Canopus in 1999.

Credits: archaeologyEAA/Twitter

Credits:franckgoddio.org

Earlier this year, archaeologists in Egypt announced that they have discovered an ancient funerary temple along with other items in Saqqara Necropolis, located south of capital Cairo. Saqqara Necropolis, which served as a burial ground in ancient Egypt has led to multiple discoveries including colored coffins and other wooden statues in the past. Adding to that is the latest discovery which also includes over 50 sarcophagi, an ornate coffin used by ancient Egyptians to bury their dead.

Main Image/File: SerhadKars/Twiiter