Centuries-old Venetian glass vessels found underwater near Burgas

A total of 112 whole and fragmented Venetian post-medieval glass vessels were discovered during underwater archaeological excavations in the Chengene Skele Bay near the Bulgarian coastal city of Burgas. The underwater expedition exploring the bay took place in June. The finds will add to 310 other fragments representing numerous broken and whole vessels discovered in the area since 2020.

In the area where the glass vessels were found, the shoal is at a depth of -2 to -2.5 m, covering an area of about 15 decares with a rocky seabottom. It has been suggested that it is possible that the glassware may be from a spilled cargo from a boat or ship during a storm and strong swell, which was further enhanced by the shoal and protruding rocks.

The likelihood that the wreck of the ship carrying the glass vessels was in the vicinity of where the glass fragments were found is very high. The basis for this hypothesis is given by the underwater discovery of several fragments of iron anchor chains and highly fragmented pottery bearing the marks of pottery production generally of the Late Medieval and Renaissance periods.

The new finds are an important source of information on the understudied topic of glass consumption, trade and production in the Balkans during the Late Ottoman period, the Regional Historical Museum in Burgas said. So far, the hypothesis has been proposed that the vessels were most likely produced in a workshop on the island of Murano, Venice, in the second half of the 16th or early 17th century. The question of the exact dating of the glass objects and the probable shipwreck remains open, all the more so as the site around the reef has not been excavated.

The underwater expedition surveyed four more areas in the Chengene Skele Bay and found . fragments of late antique and medieval amphorae as well as parts of pottery vessels.

The reasearch was carried out by a team of the National History Museum, led by Prof. Dr. Ivan Hristov.

Images by Burgas Regional Historical Museum