In the autumn of 1967 a diver found the remains of what will soon become the oldest known Greek ship in history. Sitting half a mile off the shore of Kyrenia harbor, Cyprus, the great shipwreck was covered in a thick layer of protective mud-sand, with seaweed gently swaying about the mound of amphorae that were visible to the naked eye. It was just pure fate that the waters that held the wreck were only ninety feet deep, a depth suitable for divers to conduct an archaeological expedition. The finds were amazing - much of the ship itself was preserved under the mud-sand, as well as many artifacts that were preserved due to their surroundings. After a lengthy assessment of all that could be salvaged from the sea, archaeologists found they had uncovered the most well-preserved fourth-century Greek merchant ship and cargo in history. What is the story behind this great find? Who was on the ship when it sunk? Where was it going? Where did it come from? How was it built? These are only a few of the mysteries that come out of this excavation. Thankfully, through science, technology, and research, many of these questions can be answered with a great deal of scientific backing. This paper will discuss the finds within the Kyrenia Shipwreck, as well as the ship's construction, and what exactly happened the day the ship hit the bottom of the sea.
During the preliminary stages of the excavation, a survey was completed on the underwater site in order to understand what exactly was under the bed of mud-sand. Using metal detectors to locate any sort of ferrous matter, they found that the three by five meters of visible mound of amphorae was actually part of a mass that measured 10 by 19 meters that was sunken into the sandy bottom and covered with Poseidon grass. The late Michael Katzev, who was one of the first to see this underwater treasure and was the founder of this excavation, applied for permission to excavate the ship from the Director of the Department of Antiquities, and began to organize funding for this full-scale expedition (Swiny ND: 339).