DIVERS have found the remains of ships, pink granite statues and a black granite stela from the pharaonic port of Herakleion, which had been lost to the sea for centuries, French explorer Franck Goddio announced on Thursday. “These new archeological discoveries, particularly the stela, allow us to identify the city as being that of Herakleion,” Goddio told a press conference in the city of Alexandria. Divers who probed Abu Qir bay under Goddio’s direction found a black granite stela around two meters high, which is practically identical to the Naukratis stone exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and dates to the 4th Century BC. It was an important trading port built by the pharaohs before the city of Alexandria was founded in 331 BC, but which was submerged by an earthquake, a change in climate or another natural disaster, archeologists say. – AFP