Nicosia Two years ago a Cypriot diver chanced upon hundreds of ancient ceramic wine jars rising from the seabed off the southern coast of Cyprus. Together they formed the shape of a ship, still buried in the sand. It appears that what the diver discovered was a supertanker of its time. It is the biggest and probably oldest wreck found in the island’s waters.

The merchant vessel may also prove to be one of the best-preserved wrecks of the classical period (5th to 4th centuries BC), archaeologists said yesterday. The ship was carrying high-quality red wine from a Greek island when it perished 2.5km (1.5 miles) off the southern coast of Cyprus in about 350BC, about the time Alexander the Great was born.

The vessel has been named the Mazotos shipwreck after the village nearest to it but the precise location of the wreck is being kept a secret to protect it from treasure hunters. About 500 amphorae were found on the seabed and at least 300 more are believed to lie buried in the sand.

That means that its cargo was twice the size of that found on Cyprus’s most celebrated wreck, the Kyrenia, a 50ft merchant vessel that was found off the northern coast more than 40 years ago. The Mazotos wreck, then, is probably twice as big as the Kyrenia, which was carrying 385 amphorae.

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