Divers Are About to Pull a 3,000-Year-Old Shipwreck From the Depths

Some 3,000 years ago, a hand-sewn boat sank off the coast of what is now Croatia. Now, researchers plan to pull the wreck from the depths in hopes of learning more about historical shipbuilding techniques.

Marine archaeologists began studying the 39-foot-long vessel—nicknamed the “Zambratija boat” because of its location in the Bay of Zambratija—after hearing reports from local fishermen in 2008. Researchers were surprised to learn the vessel dated to between the 12th and 10th centuries B.C.E, which they say makes it the oldest entirely hand-sewn boat in the Mediterranean.