Ukrainian experts urge Unesco to protect site uncovered by Russian sabotage
On a warm September day, a group of underwater archaeologists and researchers were boiling water for tea on their campfire on the banks of the Dnipro River, tents pitched on the sandy shoreline. They were three weeks into an archaeological expedition of the waters around Khortytsia – a rocky island 12.5km long and 2.5km wide […]
On a warm September day, Ukrainian underwater archaeologists and researchers were preparing for an expedition around Khortytsia Island, a rocky island situated on the Dnipro River near Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Three weeks into their mission, they had discovered a Bronze Age deer antler, ceramic shards from the Scythians, a Byzantine amphora, and an 18th-century anchor, among other remarkable finds.
Their most significant discovery was an entire boat, hollowed out of a single tree trunk and remarkably preserved by millennia of river immersion. This group of experts, along with a larger coalition of historians, naturalists, ecologists, and archaeologists, is advocating for the protection of the "great meadow" – the vast landscape that once lay beneath the Nova Kakhovka dam – as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The dam, destroyed by the Russians on June 6, 2023, unleashed 18 cubic kilometers of water, causing a humanitarian crisis and reshaping the landscape. The team believes the dam should not be rebuilt and that the former reservoir bed should be preserved as a natural and cultural environment.
Written by urgent.news from People Daily Kenya's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
