Sunken Ottoman Ship Found
An Ottoman ship with Dutch cargo is found off the coast from Uria in Izmir. This merchant ship is believed to be transporting plates from the Netherlands. The excavation is led by Professor Haya Erkanal with twenty underwater archeologists. It is coordinated by the Ankara University Underwater Research and Application Center. The excavation is taking place in Limantepe, a site of prehistoric settlements from being hunter-gatherers to farmers. The Ottoman ship is determined that it was from the seventeenth century.
Erkanal reported that the ship had sunken along with more than a thousand plates. Because the remains are not fully-embedded below the sea floor, Erkanal and the team needs to desalinate (take out the salt), or else they will break easily. Though, the teams lacks of equipment and system to remove the remains from underwater. Since the new center will open next year, the team began removing some of remains, and next year they anticipate to remove the plates and the parts of the ship and they will start the restoration and conservation processes. Finally, they plan to exhibit the shipwreck with the plates, the way they were originally. This excavation will be the third in Turkish history. After all the processes, Erkanal plans to make a proposal to the Culture and Tourism Ministry to present the ship at an archeological park near the excavation site. If permitted, the shipwreck will be in a monitored room. Erkanal added, the excavation site attracted attention from the public, and the team aims to excavate the entire pier of Limantepe.
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Written
on September 9, 2013