Location of Columbus’ Point of Departure Found in Spain
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
HUELVA, SPAIN—Traces of a fifteenth-century pottery and a reef unearthed at Palos de la Frontera in southwestern Spain have led archaeologist Juan Manuel Campos of the University of Huelva to claim he has discovered the exact location of Christopher Columbus’ departure for the New World in 1492. Historical sources describe La Fontanilla port as having a shipyard, a fresh water fountain, a pottery works, and a reef. “The reef was the port’s customs area, and it was the place where Columbus negotiated and made the arrangements necessary for the success of his historic voyage,” Campos told The Latin American Herald Tribune. To read about late medieval Jewish cemeteries in Spain, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "Spain's Lost Jewish History."
Advertisement
Panama’s golden grave, Viking dental exams, an unusual papyrus preservative, playing games in ancient Kenya, and a venerable Venetian church
Within a knight’s grasp
Advertisement
Advertisement