Vargas Ariza et al. / Antiquity; Arc-Dimar
Details of golden “cobs” observed in ROV images of the wreck site indicate that they come from the 1708 wreck of the Galeão San José Treasury
A team of investigators used robotic diving vehicles to study the gold coins found under the seafood near the wreckage of Spanish Galeão San José – who feature representations of castles, lions and crosses of Jerusalem aged 300.
New details about the gold coins found off the coast of Colombia, around the “”, confirm that they belong to the Spanish Galeão San Joséa treasure ship that sank in 1708 during a cannon duel with British ships.
When it sank, the Galeão was carrying 180 tons of goldsilver and precious stones to cut, and the current value of the treasure can from euros.
The Government of Colombia hopes to recover some of the artifacts For a dedicated museum that is still built.
However, by companies and governments from various countries, including the Spanish government, which states that the wreckage of its military ships, regardless of your antiquitycontinue to be owner of Spain.
Recently, a team of Colombian researchers carried out an analysis of the wreck site, which included The study of images captured by vehicles Submarines remotely operated (Rovs.
The results of the study, which analyzed Dozens of irregular coins Which are scattered around the wreck, at a depth of about 600 meters, were introduced on Tuesday in Antiquity magazine.
In 2015, the Government of Colombia announced that it had located The San Jose in the Colombian waters of the Caribbean, near the city of Cartagena, and the observations were made for four expeditions with ROVs to the wreck in 2021 and 2022.
The remarks of the new study confirm that the coins and the nearby wreckage San José’s wreck of 1708.
Submerged gold
In their study, investigators describe dozens of irregular gold coins – the total number is unknown – in various locations within the wreck, surrounded by other load artifacts, weapons and objects of everyday on board for over 300 years.
The study authors used High Definition Photography to examine the coins in detail and determined that they had an average diameter of 32.5mm and a Probable 27 gram.
The images of the ROVs also revealed the drawings of the coins. One side presents A variation of the Cross of Jerusalem – A large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses – and A shield decorated with castles and lions.
On the back, these coins show the “Crowned Pillars of Hercules on the waves of the sea ”, being the exclusive waves of the Limethe authors say in the study.
They also observed that Some coins had distinctive marks that had been recorded on the metal, including the marks of an essayer – An expert who tests the purity of the metal – of the Spanish currency house in Lima, current capital of Peru, in 1707.
To the cross your observations with colonial recordsinvestigators determined that coins and other artifacts came from San José.
“These colonial Spanish coins were often cut from Gold or Silver Raws“, it says Daniela Vargas ArizaMaritime Archaeologist of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History and the main author of the study, quoted by.
“These irregular hand -coiled coins, known in English as cobs and in Spanish as Macuquinas, served as the main currency In the Americas for more than two centuries, ”says Ariza.
The richest wreck
San José’s wreck one of the most valuable ever foundand there are intense legal disputes on who has the right to recover it “Although you don’t know if this is possible.”
In December last year, the Colombian research ship ARC Caribe He began one, considered the most valuable in the history of mankind.
Colombia expects Part of the Treasury can be sold to finance the archaeological recovery effort of the entire old ship, but the Colombian law can prohibit the sale of any object considered a historical artifact.
Spain also claims wreck and all your treasureunder an international convention on the law of the sea that establishes that the wreckage of military ships belong to their nation of origin.
However, Colombia did not ratify this conventionand critics claim that the disposition is intends to protect modern technologies from war shipsno treasures of treasures with centuries of age.
Or San José Leading a fleet of 18 ships with treasures who left Cartagena to Europe on June 8, 1708, when he was attacked by a squad of five British war ships; Britain was Spain’s enemy during the Spanish War at that time.
Os Three largest Spanish galleons responded with their cannonsbut the San José sank when their gunpowder deposits exploded; Most of the Spanish fleet fled to the port of Cartagena.
