#canopus

Egypt Recovers 2,000-Year-Old Statues From Sunken City

It's Egypt's first underwater excavation in 25 years.

Egypt has uncovered the 2,000-year-old remnants of Canopus, a sunken city off the coast of Alexandria, including buildings, an ancient dock, and monumental statues.

Prior to the establishment of Alexandria in the 4th century B.C.E., the port of Canopus was one of the most important drivers of the Egyptian economy. It stood at the westernmost point of the Nile Delta and, together with Thonis-Heracleion on the opposite bank, facilitated trade across the Mediterranean Sea. It remained a prominent commercial and military hub during the Ptolemaic dynasty (323 B.C.E. to 30 B.C.E.) and the ensuing Roman occupation which lasted roughly 600 years. Canopus’s coastal position, however, made it vulnerable to earthquakes and rising sea levels, and by the 8th century, it was lost beneath the waters of what is today Alexandria’s Abu Qir bay.

This summer’s excavations, which saw divers working in coordination with onshore cranes, were Egypt’s first underwater operations in 25 years—indicating the difficulty of recovering materials submerged beneath the Nile’s bed of clay and silt. Archaeologists uncovered limestone buildings that served residential, commercial, and religious functions. Nearby, they uncovered reservoirs for domestic water storage and ponds carved out of the rocks that were used to cultivate fish.

Statuary emerged as some of the most eye-catching discoveries. Divers recovered a giant quartz sphinx that held carved oval tablets of Ramesses II, the 13th-century B.C.E. pharaoh who stands as one of ancient Egypt’s longest-serving and most successful rulers. In addition, there was a granite statue of a figure from the late Ptolemaic era (without its head), and the lower half of Roman nobleman carved from white marble.

The discovery of artifacts related to one of Canopus’s docks will help researchers better understand how the port functioned. It’s believed the 400-foot dock served as a harbor for smaller boats until the 4th century, and the finds included stone anchors, a harbor crane, and a merchant ship, which will shed light on period shipbuilding techniques.

The recovery was witnessed by Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister, Sherif Fathy, who called the effort a “remarkable milestone” in the country’s efforts to protect its cultural heritage. “There’s a lot underwater, but what we’re able to bring up is limited,” Fathy said in a statement. “It’s only specific material according to strict criteria. The rest will remain part of our sunken heritage.”

Earlier this month, the Alexandria National Museum opened an exhibition that presented nearly 100 artifacts from the lost cities of Canopus and Heracleion. Many of the finds were uncovered by a joint French-Egyptian marine archaeology team that began work in the Abu Qir bay during the 1990s. With the preservation of artifacts the priority, the Egyptian authorities have even floated the possibility of creating an underwater museum, which would be the world’s first.

By Richard Whiddington.

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