28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

2000-year-old anchor discovered at the bottom of the North Sea

A possible Iron Age anchor made from wrought iron was found at the bottom of the southern North Sea during survey works for ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm.

The artifact is thought to date from the Roman or late Iron Age, putting it between 1,600 and 2,000 years old.  It is thought that the discovery could provide evidence of ancient Roman seafaring and trading in the southern North Sea, off the coast of the East of England.

The anchor, which was over two meters long and weighed about 100 kilograms, is thought to have been estimated from a 500–600 ton ship, possibly one of the larger merchant ships in the Roman fleet.

The anchor most likely came from a sizable merchant ship in the Roman fleet because it shares several characteristics with anchors used on ships during the Roman Imperial period.

The Classis Britannica was the first British navy and the regional fleet of the Roman province of Britannia. It operated from the middle of the first century AD to the middle of the third century AD, despite the fact that very little physical maritime evidence has been found. As in Agricola’s campaign into Caledonia (Scotland), where the Classis would have scouted the coastline and resupplied the advancing legions as they pressed further north into tribal territories, erecting forts and temporary encampments, the navy’s function was to provide coastal support to land forces.

Roman anchor 140 feet below sea level.
Roman anchor 140 feet below sea level. Photo: ScottishPower

The fleet’s primary focus during the final years of Roman rule in Britain was defending the Eastern and Southern coasts from Frankish piracy and Saxon raids against coastal towns known as the Saxonicum or Saxon Shore.

The anchor has first found in 2018 during marine seabed survey works by ScottishPower Renewables for its East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm around 40km off the Suffolk coast.

Protected by an exclusion zone installed on the seabed during construction works and monitored using remote underwater technology due to concerns over its long-term preservation, the anchor was safely and carefully recovered from the water in 2021.

The anchor is the most recent of numerous significant historical and archaeological discoveries made while building the wind farm. Among these is a missing German submarine from World War I, numerous artifacts from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, and Medieval periods discovered during onshore excavation work, and a prehistoric monument dating back more than 4,000 years, complete with a rare Neolithic wooden trackway and platform and an ancient wild cattle (Auroch) skull radiocarbon-dating to around 6,000 years.

 It is currently undergoing detailed imaging and analysis to better determine its age and will eventually go on permanent display in collaboration with the Colchester and Ipswich Museums.

The conservation work is being carried out by ScottishPower Renewables’ commissioned specialists Maritime Archaeology Ltd, in collaboration with Mary Rose Archaeological Services, and with advice and guidance from Historic England’s material science experts throughout the process.

Cover Photo: ScottishPower

Related Articles

A 2,000-year-old Roman sewage system has been discovered in western Turkey

19 September 2021

19 September 2021

The archaeological excavations carried out in the ancient city of Tripolis in the western province of Denizli’s Buldan district have...

Scientists Find Aztec ‘Death Whistles’ do Weird Things to the Listeners’ Brains

18 November 2024

18 November 2024

New research reveals that one of the Aztecs’ most chilling artefacts, clay death whistles, which resemble a human skull and...

Extraordinary discovery in France: An unlooted 1800-year-old Roman Sarcophagus discovered

27 September 2023

27 September 2023

Archaeologists from France’s National Institute of Preventive Archeology (INRAP) have unearthed an unlooted ancient stone sarcophagus in the vast ancient...

A Mysterious Deity’s Ancient Gold Gift was Discovered at Georgia’s Gonio-Apsaros Roman Fort

25 October 2024

25 October 2024

During excavations at the Roman fortress of Apsaros in Georgia, archaeologists discovered a unique gold votive plaque presented to Jupiter...

Bronze Age Wedge Tomb Discovered on the Dingle Peninsula maybe Even Older

22 April 2021

22 April 2021

A wedge tomb recently discovered on the Dingle Peninsula of Ireland was described by archaeologists as “quite unusual”. Wedge tombs...

The earliest human remains 11,000-year-old discovered in northern Britain

25 January 2023

25 January 2023

An international team of archaeologists at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has discovered 11,000-year-old human remains in the Heaning...

Salvage Excavations Started in Giresun Island on Turkey’s Black Sea Coast

18 May 2021

18 May 2021

Rescue excavations are starting again on Giresun Island, where the first examples of human settlement in the Black Sea Region...

Centuries-old burials discovered near Antandros Ancient City in Turkey

10 January 2022

10 January 2022

Ancient tombs were discovered during a foundation excavation at a building site near the ancient city of Antandros, which is...

Itbaraks in Turkic Mythology: The Human-Bodied, Dog-Headed Beings Who Defied Oghuz Khagan

5 July 2025

5 July 2025

In the mist-shrouded realms of ancient Turkic epics, there exists a race that haunts both myth and memory—the İtbaraks. These...

Archaeologists Uncover Exceptional Roman Mausoleum Near Lyon, Modeled After Augustus’ Tomb

23 August 2025

23 August 2025

Archaeologists in France have unearthed a remarkably well-preserved Roman mausoleum in Saint-Romain-en-Gal, near Lyon, that was modeled on the famous...

Neanderthal Fingerprint on 50,000-Year-Old Pebble Could Be Europe’s Oldest Portable Artwork

29 May 2025

29 May 2025

New analysis reveals that a pebble marked with ochre and a fingerprint could be the earliest known example of transportable...

Extraordinary Discovery of a Unique Painted Tomb in Tarquinia’s Etruscan Necropolis

1 February 2025

1 February 2025

Exceptional discovery in the necropolis of Tarquinia, located near the western coast in central Italy, north of Rome (a UNESCO...

The World’s Largest Pyramid Is Hidden Within a Hill in Mexico

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

The largest and tallest pyramids in the world are incredible feats of design, engineering, and construction. The Great Pyramid of...

A Colonnaded Hall with Extraordinary Frescoes of Still Life Found in Pompeii

27 December 2024

27 December 2024

Archaeologists in the famous ancient Roman city of Pompeii, one of the world’s most iconic archaeological sites, have revealed extraordinary...

The 20-million-year-old fossil of a sea creature in the ancient city of Tyana may have been used as a means of payment

22 October 2021

22 October 2021

During the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Tyana in the Kemerhisar district of Niğde, a 20-million-year-old fossil thought...