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the Kyrenia project

is applied archaeology where practical tests are conducted on 1:1 rebuilds and replicas from the original.

the Kyrenia team

in cyprus consists of participants of the Kyrenia ship excavation crew (Mrs. katzev, Mrs. swiny, Mr. robin) and the sailing crew of the Kyrenia 2 - the replica built vessel.

amphorae tests

part of the applied archaeology is the remake of all original found amphorae on the wreck, the stowing of these on the Kyrenia 2 and test the sailing conditions with amphorae cargo.

one of the tests included underwater experiments of different sealing methods of amphorae and how they react under water pressure at same depth of THE original wreck.

amphorae experiment

AFTER MEETINGS AT THE 9th International Symposium on Ship Construction in Antiquity - TROPIS 2005, world congress of underwater archaeology,  the Kyrenia team chose AQUATEC - INNERSPACE OPERATIONS LTD. AND MEMBERS OF THE GREEN BAY WRECK PROJECT TO FOLLOW THE AMPHORAES UNDERWATER AND PRODUCE PHOTO EVIDENCE DURING THE TEST.

AS A COINCIDENT IT TURNED OUT THAT MRS. SWINY WAS DIVING THE GREEN BAY WRECK IN 1994 AFTER RECOGNIZING THAT ILLEGAL WORK AND RECOVERY WAS DONE BY LOCAL DIVERS.

3 AMPHORAE WERE FILLED WITH WATER AND BLACK ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY PAINT. THE FINAL WEIGHT OF ONE FILLED AMPHORAE WAS AT ABOUT 48 KGS.

1 SEALING CONSISTED OF CORK, 1 OF FRESH SKIN, 1 OF SUN DRIED SKIN.

THE AMPHORAE WERE THEN SIMULTANEOUSLY SLOWLY LOWERED AND RAISED TO A WATER DEPTH OF -35 METERS ATTACHED TO 3 ROPES. ALL AMPHORAE WERE LABELED.

THE DIVERS USED REBREATHERS WHICH PROOFED TO BE A DIFFICULT TASK DURING THE EXPERIMENT AS TO CONSTANT CHANGING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE DEPTHS OF THE AMPHORAE.

RESULTS

THE CORK SEALED AMPHORAE OPENED AT A WATER DEPTH OF -15 METERS.

THE FRESH SKIN SEALED AMPHORAE OPENED AT -20 METERS.

THE SUN DRIED SKIN SEALED AMPHORAE STAYED INTACT.