Wreckage from a 2,000-year-old Roman cargo ship has been discovered off the coast of Italy, authorities say.
Archaeologists found the ship, roughly 65 feet long, along a seabed about 525 feet underwater, near the port of Civitavecchia, according to the BBC.
“The exceptional discovery is an important ex-ample of the shipwreck of a Roman ship facing the perils of the sea in an attempt to reach the coast, and bears witness to old maritime trading routes,” according to a statement from Italy’s cultural heritage protection police unit, per the BBC.
Inside the ancient ship, hundreds of terra cotta jars — known as amphorae — were found intact, The Guardian reported.
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The artifacts, known as Dressel 1 B jars are tube-shaped; authorities have not yet said for what they may have been used, per the publication.
The news of the shipwreck comes on the heels of another discovery in the region this summer. Last month, divers announced that a 3,000-year-old, hand-sewn ship from the floor of the Mediterranean Sea would be recovered.
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Known as the Zambratija, the vessel is the old-est known example of a fully sewn boat, dating back to “a period between the last quarter of the 12th century B.C.,” according to the Camille Jullian Center, a Croatian research organization involved in the project alongside the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
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“Its architecture and its construction, the assembly technique of the strakes, as well as the waterproofing system of the hull, have no equivalent in the Mediterranean area,” the Camille Jullian Center said. Researchers believe about 23 feet of the ship, which was made from flexible pieces of wood that were sewn together, remains intact.—APP
