By Sam Helmy
The wreck of the Whydah Gally has cast serious doubt on allegations of historical fraud by African merchants.
The discovery was made through a new scientific analysis of gold recovered from the early 18th-century wreck of the Whydah Gally. The findings seriously challenge long-standing claims that West African traders routinely adulterated their gold.
The Whydah sank off Cape Cod in 1717 and was rediscovered in 1984 by diver Barry Clifford. It then yielded hundreds of Akan gold pieces among more than 200,000 artifacts recovered from the site. Because the ship’s sinking is precisely dated, the cargo provides a rare, securely dated snapshot of the transatlantic trade in that era.
Read the full article on DeeperBlue:
https://www.deeperblue.com/divers-debunk-historic-fraud-allegations-of-sunken-whydah-wreck/
