地中海に沈んだ１６世紀の商船発見、仏領海で最深

【ニースＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス南部沖の水深約２５００メートルの地中海の海底で、１６世紀に沈没した商船の残骸が見つかった。同国文化省の当局者が１１日に発表した。地中海を含むすべてのフランスの海域における最も深い場所での遺物発見となった。（写真は、フランス南部沖の水深約２５００メートルの地中海の海底で見つかった、１６世紀に沈没した商船の残骸。仏海軍提供）
　水深２５６７メートルの海底で見つかった船は、陶器や金属棒を積載してイタリア北部から航行していたとみられる。これまでは、２０１９年に南仏トゥーロン沖２３００メートルで見つかった沈没船が最深だった。
　文化省の水中考古学部門責任者アルノー・ショーマス氏は「これはフランス領海の最も深い場所で発見された沈没船だ」と述べた。
　海事当局によると、地中海に面するサントロペ沖で運用されていた水中ドローンが、沈没船を偶然発見した。
　発見現場からは、注ぎ口がつままれた形をした壺２００個が確認された。
　これらの壺の一部には、ギリシャ語でイエスの名前の最初の３文字である「ＩＨＳ」のモノグラムが刻まれていたほか、植物をモチーフにした模様や幾何学模様で覆われたものもあった。
　このほか、約１００枚の黄色い皿や２つの大釜、１つの錨、６門の大砲が確認された。
　考古学者マリン・サダニア氏によると、現場はその深さゆえに略奪などを免れ、沈没当時の状態を保っていたという。
　今後２年間で、船の３Ｄデジタルデータを作成するほか、現場からサンプルを抽出して詳しく調査が行われる。調査終了後、研究に用いられたサンプルは公共施設に保存される予定だ。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/06/13-18:49）

Archaeologists have discovered what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 2.5 kilometres underwater off southern France, the deepest such find in its section of the Mediterranean or any other French waters.
Archaeologists believe the ship was sailing from northern Italy loaded with ceramics and metal bars before it sunk.
Despite a little modern household waste dotting its sunken cargo at 2,567 metres (more than 1.5 miles) below sea level, they were excited about the potential of an archaeological site largely preserved intact.
It's the deepest shipwreck ever found in French territorial waters, Arnaud Schaumasse, the head of the culture ministry's underwater archaeology department, said late Wednesday.
An underwater drone stumbled upon the sunken ship by chance in early March in waters near Saint-Tropez in southeastern France, deputy maritime prefect Thierry de la Burgade said.
The sonar detected something quite big, so we went back with the device's camera, then against with an underwater robot to snap high-quality images, he said.
The drone was patrolling the seabed as part of a government project to explore and monitor France's deep-sea resources, from minerals to deep-sea internet cables.
Archaeologist Marine Sadania said experts discovered 200 jugs with pinched spouts among the wreckage at the site they have dubbed Camarat 4.
Some of these jugs were marked with the monogram IHS, the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, or covered with plant-inspired or geometric patterns.
Those details seemed to indicate the jugs hailed from the Liguria region in what is now northern Italy, she said.
- 'As if time froze' -
Experts also identified piles of around 100 yellow plates, two cauldrons, an anchor and six cannons.
Modern waste, such as a soda can or an empty yoghurt pot, were spotted too.
But despite this, the site -- thanks to its depth which prevented any recovery or looting -- has remained intact, as if time froze, which is exceptional, Sadania said.
Over the coming two years, she and colleagues plan to draw up a 3D digital version of the ship, as well as extract samples from the site to better study them before returning them to the public domain.
According to the defence ministry in charge of exploring France's deep seas, researchers can remove an item from a shipwreck by guiding a submarine robot with pincers or arms, via a long cable linking the device to a boat on the surface.
The deepest French authorities had found a sunken vessel until now was 2.3 kilometres under sea level off the southern city of Toulon in 2019.
The wreckage belonged to La Minerve, a French submarine that plunged to its demise in 1968 with 52 navy crew on board, four minutes only after the start of a routine assignment.