ÜDS-Sosyal 2003-1 Soru=67

It is pointed out in the passage that underwater archaeology along the coasts of Turkey ----.

It is thought that sails were invented by the Egyptians
around 3400 B.C. Harnessing wind power for sea
transport was a crucial factor in the development of
civilisation, enabling Egyptian sailors to carry the
timber they needed from the thickly forested coasts of
Lebanon, and later taking them to Cyprus where
there were plentiful deposits of copper and to the
coasts of Anatolia. Trade began to flourish in the
eastern Mediterranean, but of the thousands of ships
which came and went from Anatolian harbours, some
were inevitably wrecked in storms. The ships and
cargoes which sank to the seabed over the centuries
are today providing illuminating evidence about
maritime and commercial history. Since the first
underwater excavations were carried out in Turkish
coastal waters in 1960, much has been discovered
about shipbuilding technology in antiquity and the
commodities the ships were carrying. Undoubtedly,
the most important wreck excavated so far is the
Uluburun Wreck, which is the earliest of all, dating
from the late Bronze Age. This ship sank 3300 years
ago and is accounted one of the most important ten
archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. The
gold seal of Queen Nefertiti and a two-leaf wooden
book, the oldest book in the world, are among the
hundreds of remarkable finds.