Archaeologists have discovered a trove of ancient artifacts from the fourth century BCE, including wicker baskets filled with fruit and Greek ceramics.
The discoveries were made in the ruins of the sunken ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion, which was Egypt’s largest Mediterranean port for centuries until Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BCE.
The artifacts were found by a team of researchers from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, or IEASM, led by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, who discovered the ruins two decades ago.
Goddio told The Guardian that the discoveries were “incredible” and that the fruit baskets had been untouched for over 2,000 years.
“Nothing was disturbed,” Goddio told The Guardian. “It was very striking to see baskets of fruits.”
The wicker baskets were filled with doum, fruit from an African palm tree, and grape seeds.
Goddio theorized that the fruit might have been preserved because they were placed in an underground room, possibly with a funerary connotation, The Guardian reported.
2,400-year-old baskets of fruit discovered in Underwater City of Heracleion
Wicker baskets filled with fruit that have survived from the 4th century BC have been discovered in the submerged ruins of the near-legendary city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt.
ThonisHeracleion was for centuries considered Egypt’s largest port in the area until Alexander the Great founded the coastal city of Alexandria in 331 BC.