Dozens of ancient shipwrecks spotted deep beneath the Black Sea

​Some of these vessels sank when the Byzantine Empire was in its heyday 1000 years ago, and some during more recent Ottoman times. Others sank in the 13th century, when Marco Polo was plying his trade across the globe.

Most other wrecks from these time periods have been found in much shallower waters, where they have been eaten away down to just their hulls.

But the new haul was preserved for centuries on the seabed thanks to low-oxygen conditions that prevent the decay of timber. As a result, the architecture of the upper deck appears in unprecedented detail, allowing historians to see how well the features match up to historical accounts.
​
New images show finely carved rudders, masts, tillers, and even ropes that are almost perfectly preserved.