Sunken Treasures

Since 1992, underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team have been researching, recovering and restoring Egyptian artefacts that had lain undisturbed on the ocean’s floor for more than 1,000 years. In the process, they have located the city of Thonis-Herakleion, revealed the eastern reaches of the town of Canopus and discovered a sunken section of the Great Port of Alexandria. Although the precise circumstances behind the submersion of these ancient settlements remains a mystery, the prevailing theory is that the region was flooded following volcanic activity. With a major new exhibition of the recovered artefacts due to open at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn later this month, we present a selection of Christoph Gerigk‘s photographs, which document the discovery of one of Egypt’s greatest hidden treasure troves