Divers discover a 400-year-old shipwreck filled with pepper corns, shells used as legal tender in the slave trade and bronze artillery pieces off the coast of Portugal
- The Portuguese ship was involved in the hugely lucrative spice trade between Portugal and India
- Early excavations have found porcelain dating from the period of China’s Wanli Emperor in the 16th century
- Archaeologists described the discovery as the most important underwater find in the country in two decades
Archaeologists in Portugal say they have discovered a 400-year-old shipwreck off Lisbon they describe as the most important underwater find in the country in two decades.
The municipal council of Cascais, a town near Lisbon, said the Portuguese ship was involved in the hugely lucrative spice trade between Portugal and India.
Pepper corns, cowry shells used in the slave trade and bronze artillery pieces litter the wreck site, which was discovered 40 feet (12 metres) under water.
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Divers are seen during the discovery of a centuries-old shipwreck, in Cascais. Archaeologists in Portugal say they have discovered off Lisbon a 400-year-old shipwreck they describe as the most important underwater find in the country for two decades
Shells were used as legal tender in some parts of the world until the mid-19th century.
The council said in a statement the wreck was found last month during dredging at the mouth of the River Tagus, on Portugal’s Atlantic coast.
Experts believe the ship was wrecked between 1575 and 1625.
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The mayor of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras, told Portuguese newspaper Publico: ‘This is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the last decade.’
Preliminary excavations have also found porcelain dating from the period of China’s Wanli Emperor in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
The find came during an offshore mapping project compiling an inventory of wrecks.
The municipal council of Cascais, a town near Lisbon, said the Portuguese ship was involved in the hugely lucrative spice trade between Portugal and India
Pepper corns, cowry shells used in the slave trade and bronze artillery pieces litter the wreck site, which was discovered 40 feet (12 metres) under water. Shells were used as legal tender in some parts of the world until the mid-19th century
The council said in a statement the wreck was found last month during dredging at the mouth of the River Tagus, on Portugal’s Atlantic coast
The mayor of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras, told Portuguese newspaper Publico: ‘This is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the last decade’
The wreckage site spans an area 328 feet (100 metres) long by 164 feet (50 metres) wide, according to Jorge Freire, scientific director of the Cascais Underwater Archaeological Chart Project.
He told Portuguese news agency Lusa: ‘We see the shield of Portugal and the armillary sphere.
‘So out there, we are surely talking about a finding of national design very similar to that which was Our Lady of the Martyrs [a Portuguese ship also of the Way of the Indies, discovered in 1994].
Preliminary excavations have also found porcelain dating from the period of China’s Wanli Emperor in the late 16th and early 17th centuries
The find came during an offshore mapping project compiling an inventory of wrecks. The wreckage site spans an area 328 feet (100 metres) long by 164 feet (50 metres) wide
Jorge Freire, scientific director of the Cascais Underwater Archaeological Chart Project, said: ‘We see the shield of Portugal and the armillary sphere’
Mr Freire added: ‘So out there, we are surely talking about a finding of national design very similar to that which was Our Lady of the Martyrs [a Portuguese ship also of the Way of the Indies, discovered in 1994]’
Divers discovered a 400-year-old shipwreck filled with pepper corns, shells used as legal tender in the slave trade and bronze artillery pieces off the coast of Portugal
Divers found the rare shipwreck near Cascais, a town on Portugal’s south west coast near Lisbon
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