One of the richest Bronze Age shipwrecks was found by a sponge diver who sketched 'metal biscuits with ears'. They were copper ingots: ten tonnes of them on a 14th-century BC ship off Turkey, plus a gold scarab of Nefertiti.
The event
14th century BC · 20th century
More amazing facts
- 1350 BC · 1963 In ancient Egypt a pregnancy test used grain: a woman urinated on wheat and barley, and if they sprouted, she was pregnant.
- 1323 BC · 1922 Tutankhamun's dagger was forged from a meteorite.
- 1323 BC · 1939 Tutankhamun's trumpets were silent for over 3,000 years, then played live on BBC radio in 1939 to some 150 million listeners.
- 1323 BC · 1200 BC A near-contemporary of Tutankhamun in China was an army general.
- 1274 BC · 1945 Fifteen years after the Battle of Kadesh, Egypt and the Hittites signed one of the oldest known peace treaties.
- 1250 BC · 1976 Ramesses II's mummy was never issued a passport — that's a myth.