Archaeologists in Croatia discover sunken town 3,500 years old

Croatian archaeologists recently announced they had discovered a 3,500-year-old sunken town and a port in the Adriatic Sea near Zadar, a southern coastal city.

"We found the remains of a large settlement and a port in the sea between the islands of Ricula and Galesnjak in the Pasman Channel last year. After radiocarbon analysis finished this month, we could say that the remains were probably built around 1500 B.C.," Mato Ilkic, head of the archaeological research team at Zadar University, told Xinhua in a telephone interview.

They unearthed various findings during two research explorations in a small part of the settlement, covering a total area of nearly two hectares, Ilkic said.

The most valuable findings were the very rare wood objects from 3,500 years ago, he said.

The laboratory test results on samples of wooden pylons found on the sandy sea bottom showed that the town and port, as well as other facilities, were constructed in the mid-Bronze Age period, according to Ilkic.

The results also confirmed that the sunken settlement was built by unknown communities living along the Pasman channel before the advent of Liburnians, an ancient tribe living in areas of the Adriatic Sea during the late Bronze Age, Ilkic said.

"The discovery of this wide site will certainly shed light on a dark period of pre-history -- the Bronze Age of northern Dalmatia," he added.

Last year, using satellite images and aerial photographs, the archaeologists discovered a huge, man-made formation in water three meters deep. Underwater archaeologists dove at the location and found fragments of pottery, wood residues and others, according to Ilkic.

Specifically, they found wooden pylons and other artifacts typical of communities living by the sea, he said. The other finding included a large quantity of goat and sheep bones, a stone axe, and olive pits.

"We believe the olive pits we found are the oldest ones in northern Dalmatia and perhaps in the entire Adriatic," Ilkic added.

According to him, a museum to display the archaeological findings would possibly be set up in the near future. Endit