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A pair of divers unintentionally discovered a Roman-era shipwreck on the seafloor off the western coast of Sicily. According to the Italian Ministry of Culture, the site has been undisturbed for more than 2,000 years. The vessel was discovered approximately three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo, approximately 80 miles west of Palermo, at a depth of about 150 feet.
Giacomo de Mola, one of the divers who made the discovery alongside fellow Italian spear fisherman Igor Bisulli, described the moment in an Instagram post, explaining his scanners said it appeared “to be a simple rock,” but that something compelled him to check. But something compels me to check. “One last breath. And I descend. The visibility isn’t the best. I see a large dark mass and think: ‘The usual big rock,’” he wrote. “I get closer. And my heart stops. It wasn’t 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.”
Italian Ministry of Culture
Amphorae, the ancient ceramic jars, piled up on the seafloor.
Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called it “one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years.” In a statement, Giuli said, “The 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.”
The site, which experts say date back to approximately 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, contains hundreds of clay amphorae, primarily of the Dressel 1A type used to transport wine and olive oil, piled nearly seven feet high in a heap spanning more than 66 feet in length and 20 feet in width. Divers from various local carabinieri units, Italy’s national police force, also recovered two lead anchor stocks and an additional lead structure. Some of the amphorae were the type used in North Africa, and one was identified as an older Neo-Punic vessel.
Italian Ministry of Culture
The ministry says it has no plans to raise the entire wreck.
The waters around Sicily were among the busiest shipping lanes of the ancient world. The island fell under Roman control in 241 BCE at the end of the First Punic War against Carthage, and its surrounding seas became a central artery of the empire’s trade network. Historians say the find could significantly advance the understanding of ancient Mediterranean trade.
Simon Stoddart, a professor of archaeology at the University of Cambridge, told NBC News the discovery could help form “a reconstruction of trading routes and also an ancient risk map of the Mediterranean.” Lucy Blue, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Southampton, told CNN that the wreck “adds yet more knowledge to our understanding of trade and exchange prior to the Roman Empire,” adding the large quantity of amphorae may be preserving an even more intact wooden hull beneath them, which could shed light on Roman shipbuilding technology.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.