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Louisiana
A local Baton Rouge resident in Louisana recently unearthed a historical artefact when traversing through the shallow waters of the Mississippi river.
Reportedly, the resident named Patrick Ford found a wreck of a 19th-century ship lying at the seabed of the river which has shrunk to record levels due to severe drought across the US Midwest.
According to local media reports, Ford was observing the river's receding water for weeks when he made the discovery, which according to him, still was a 'surprise'.
“This past Sunday I was out here looking and realized the rest of the shore had washed away and there was an entire ship there. I immediately texted friends and was like, 'holy moly, I think I found a ship, a sunken ship!'" said Ford.
After finding the boat, Ford approached experts to determine the exact history of the boat. The news soon reached Mississippi’s state archaeologist Chip McGimsey who said the existence of the boat has been known for some time.
"We believe this is a ship that was manufactured in 1896 in Indiana for trade here," said McGimsey who added, “In 1992, it was exposed, an archeological firm did some work. At that time, it was not nearly as exposed as it is now."
“For the most part, there are not good documents on boat building, especially once you get back into the area of wooden ships. They have a lot of individuality in these boats, and there are so few of them remaining. This is a rare example of one from around 1900.”
Climate change has caused severe droughts across the planet. The drying of rivers has revealed some long-forgotten or never-before-discovered artefacts and in some cases, entire cities.
As reported by WION, in June, the ruins of an ancient city, determined to be around 3,400 years old were discovered by archaeologists in Iraq.
In pics - Ruins of hidden 3,400-year-old city found after severe drought in Iraq
The discovery was made by a team of German and Kurdish researchers who were able to find the lost city due to the drawing down of the Mosul reservoir in the aftermath of severe droughts in Iraq in the recent past.
The team also came across five ceramic jars containing over 100 cuneiform tablets. The ancient scripts date back to the Middle Assyrian period, a time shortly before the earthquake that destroyed the city, according to the archaeologists.
(With inputs from agencies)
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