Ancient Byzantine Ships Unearthed in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish archaeologists announce Tuesday that they have discovered an ancient Byzantine port in an area that was planned to be an underground station for a modern rail tunnel.

They're calling the find the "Port of Theodosius,'' after the emperor of Rome and Byzantium who died in the year 395, and say the items they're digging up here could shed significant light on the commercial life of this ancient city.

Like Romans, Athenians and other residents of the world's great historic cities, Istanbulites can hardly put a shovel in the ground without digging up something important.

So far, the archaeologists have found what they think might be a church, an old gate to the city and eight sunken ships, which archaeologist Cemal Pulak says he believes were all wiped out by a giant storm more than 1,000 years ago.

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