Overview
- Divers responding to a private tip located the wreck off Andros this week and documented an estimated 600–650 pointed‑bottom amphorae lying on the sea floor at about 128–144 feet depth.
- Archaeologists dated the cargo to the late fifth to early fourth centuries B.C. and identified three amphora types known as Mende, Peparethos and Solokha 2, which can point to different production centers.
- Teams recovered one example of each amphora type plus a lead anchor stock and ballast stones for sampling, and those items have been sent to laboratories for residue and fabric analysis to try to identify the cargo and origin.
- Greek authorities are treating the site as a protected archaeological context and have emphasized documentation and selective sampling rather than wholesale salvage to preserve the wreck for study.
- The find joins several recent Mediterranean seabed discoveries and could reshape understanding of Late Classical sea trade because amphora types and residue tests can show what goods moved where and how ships navigated regional routes.