{"id":9305,"date":"2026-08-12T07:05:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=9305"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:05:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:05:04","slug":"fishermen-find-ancient-roman-shipwreck-off-coast-of-sicily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=9305","title":{"rendered":"Fishermen find ancient Roman shipwreck off coast of Sicily"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\nRome<\/span>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/cite><\/div>\n

\n Italian spear fisherman and diver Giacomo De Mola couldn\u2019t believe his eyes when what he thought was an underwater rock turned out to be the wreck of a 2,000-year-old Roman transport vessel off the coast of Sicily.\n <\/p>

Read more All-powerful Trump tells America, \u2018Nothing bad can happen\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n De Mola and fellow spear fisherman and diver Igor Bisulli were spearfishing off the coast of Mazara del Vallolast weekwhen they saw what they thought was just a rock between 40 and 50 meters (131-164 feet) below the surface.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut something compels me to check. One last breath. And I descend. The visibility isn\u2019t the best. I see a large dark mass and think: \u2018The usual big rock,\u2019\u201d De Mola wrote in an Instagram post.\n <\/p>\n

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Roman shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sicily\n <\/div>\n

Italy\u2019s Carabinieri cultural protection unit has uncovered a Roman-era ship wreckage roughly three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo in western Sicily. The seabed where the ship was discovered will be studied and placed under protection by authorities.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\n \n \n \n \n 0:26\n <\/span>\n \u2022 Source:\n \n CNN\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Roman shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sicily<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n \n \n \n 0:26\n<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cI get closer. And my heart stops. It wasn\u2019t a rock. Beneath me was an immense expanse of amphorae. Hundreds of amphorae that had lain on the seabed for over 2,000 years. A Roman ship asleep in the silence of the Mediterranean. When I resurface, I say to Igor: \u2018You can\u2019t imagine what\u2019s down there.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The fishermen then notified the Sicilian Regional Superintendency of the Sea, which alerted the Carabinieri military police cultural protection unit that deals with antiquities.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Carabinieri verified that the sunken vessel dated back to between the second and first centuries BC. It was carrying hundreds of clay amphora jugs used to transport wine and olive oil, the Culture Ministry said in a post on its website.\n <\/p>\n

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\nDivers found the 2,000-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ministero Della Cultura<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cA Roman-era shipwreck, presumably dating between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, has been discovered approximately three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo, at a depth of 46 meters,\u201d Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli wrote.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe seabed contains hundreds of amphorae, mostly of the Dressel 1A type, two lead anchor stocks, and another structure made of the same material.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Giuli called it \u201cone of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years.\u201d Video released by the ministry shows divers measuring and documenting the find.\n <\/p>\n

\n The amphorae were piled nearly two meters (seven feet) high, in a heap spanning more than 20 meters (66 feet) in length and six meters (20 feet) in width.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of the jugs were the type used in North Africa and one is an older, Neo-Punic amphora, according to the Culture Ministry.\n <\/p>

Read more Sky-gazers can look forward to a stunning meteor shower peak this week. How and when to see it<\/a><\/p>\n

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V.Creuze ROV Drassm\/UNESCO<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nThree historical shipwrecks uncovered in the Mediterranean<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

4 min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cThe sea continues to bring us precious fragments of our history, and the Mazara del Vallo shipwreck tells us about the people, the routes, and the exchanges that made the Mediterranean a crossroads of civilizations. Research will continue to unravel its history and deliver it to the community,\u201d Giuli continued.\n <\/p>\n

\n The site will now be subject to further documentation and research by the Superintendency of the Sea, aimed at achieving a more complete understanding of the archaeological context and adopting appropriate protection measures, according to a statement by the Carabinieri, who will secure the area.\n <\/p>\n

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\nThe Fiskardo shipwreck is full of 6,000 Roman amphorae<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ionian Aquarium, Kefalonia<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nBiggest ever Roman shipwreck found in the eastern Mediterranean<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cThe operation to locate the wreck confirms the importance of collaboration between the specialized units of the Carabinieri and the organizations responsible for the protection of cultural heritage, aimed at safeguarding the historical testimonies preserved on the seabed and their return to the community,\u201d they said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The waters around Sicily, which was colonized by the ancient Greeks and later conquered by the Romans around 240 BC, constituted one of the ancient world\u2019s most important trade routes.\n <\/p>\n

\n The discovery will shed new light into just who was traversing these waters during that era, the culture ministry says.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere is no plan now to raise the entire shipwreck but some of the artifacts may be brought up for study \u2014 it may turn into a dive site, it may eventually be raised, there is more to study in terms of the fragility of the wreck site, etc. and they need to determine if there had been previous pillages,\u201d a ministry spokesperson told CNN. \u201cSo it will stay put for now, protected, studied and valued.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The divers will receive special state recognition for their discovery, the ministry said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is hard to describe the feeling of being among the first humans in nearly 20 centuries to see that place again,\u201d De Mola wrote on social media. \u201cThis is, without a doubt, the most incredible discovery of my life.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Lucy Blue, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Southampton, England, who was not involved in the discovery, told CNN that the \u201cremarkably intact early Roman shipwreck adds yet more knowledge to our understanding of trade and exchange prior to the Roman Empire.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Blue added that the substantial number of amphorae may be \u201cpreserving an even more intact wooden hull\u201d of the ship itself, which would advance our understanding of Roman technology.\n <\/p>

Read more What Trump\u2019s catering-truck escape says about a war that won\u2019t end<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Italian spear fisherman and diver Giacomo De Mola couldn\u2019t believe his eyes when what he thought was an underwater rock turned out to be the wreck of a 2,000-year-old Roman transport vessel off the coast of Sicily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology","category-science","category-unearthed"],"yoast_head":"\nFishermen find ancient Roman shipwreck off coast of Sicily - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=9305\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fishermen find ancient Roman shipwreck off coast of Sicily - 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