Goddess sculpture found in Aegean Sea

A ceramic sculpture, which is said to be the biggest one in the history of Turkish underwater history, has been discovered off the coast of the Bozburun neighborhood in the western province of Muğla's Marmaris district.
 
The 2,700-year-old sculpture found during examinations in a ship wreckage, which was unearthed last year in November, belonged to a Cypriot goddess. 

The works, carried out by Dokuz Eylül University (DEU) Marine Science and Technology Institute, unearthed the sculpture 43 meters under water, and is reported to date back to the archaic period.

The institute's Aegean Research and Application Center (EBAMER) Deputy Director and the head of the excavations, Associate Professor Harun Özdaş, said the excavations were carried out with the permission of the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the support of the Development Ministry. 

He said they only found the lower half of the ceramic sculpture along with ceramic plates and amphoras. 
He added that the discoveries, which were scattered around an area of 300 square meters, would shed light on a very important part of the history of the Mediterranean.  

"We found such a big terra-cotta sculpture for the first time on the coasts of our country. Current researches show that the sea was the most important means of communication among Mediterranean civilizations in the ancient ages. In addition to the researches so far, the current ones made with the use of technological tools and methods show us that not only products but also opinions and philosophy were exchanged between the civilizations. Mediterranean civilizations progressed throughout ages by leaving traces on the sea. Now, using these traces, we study the civilizations that lived on the coast of our country,"...