23 January 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Divers Discover 2,500-Year-Old Shipwreck and anchors Off the Coast of Sicily

A shipwreck dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries BC was discovered in the waters of Santa Maria del Focallo near Ispica on the southern tip of the Italian island, along with ancient anchors made of stone and iron.

This shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sicily could offer new insights into ancient Greece, which colonized the Mediterranean island for hundreds of years.

Archaeologists discovered the ship buried under 20 feet of sand and rock off the southern tip of Sicily. The ancient wreck was not alone in its discovery. Just a few feet away, the team found two iron inverted “T” anchors, likely from the seventh century A.D., as well as four stone anchors that are thought to be from the prehistoric era. One of these stone anchors was broken and may have originally featured two wooden flukes designed to help secure it to the seafloor.

According to a translated statement from the Sicilian Region’s Superintendent of the Sea, these findings shed light on the region’s rich maritime history.

When archaeologists unearthed the sunken ship, they discovered a hull built using an “on-the-shell” construction technique, a simplistic early shipbuilding method often traced to populations around the Mediterranean. The “on-shell technique” is characterized by planking connected at the joints, allowing the ship’s hull to function in a self-supporting manner.

Over the centuries, mollusks have eaten away at the ship's hull, which was constructed using the "on the shell" technique. Credit: University of Udine
Over the centuries, mollusks have eaten away at the ship’s hull, which was constructed using the “on the shell” technique. Credit: University of Udine

Also, archaeologists created a three-dimensional model of the shipwreck and collected samples from the artifacts for analysis, hoping to understand more about the materials that compose them.

“The general condition of the hull, which has long been the object of attack by mollusks that feed on wood, is in fact extremely delicate and requires not only expertise, but also a lot of caution,” Massimo Capulli, professor of underwater and naval archaeology at the University of Udine, said in a translated statement from the university.

“This discovery represents an extraordinary contribution to the knowledge of the maritime history of Sicily and the Mediterranean and highlights once again the central role of the Island in the traffic and cultural exchanges of antiquity,” said Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, Sicily’s regional councilor for cultural heritage and Sicilian identity, in a statement on the shipwreck. “The wreck, dating back to a crucial period for the transition between archaic and classical Greece, is a precious piece of the submerged Sicilian cultural heritage.”

Professor Massimo Capulli, added in a separate statement released by the university that studying the wreck may help illuminate how trade happened between ancient Greeks and Carthaginians, two groups that thousands of years ago fought for control of the seas around present-day Sicily.  We are in fact faced with material evidence of the traffic and trade of a very ancient era.”

Further exploration of the wreck may provide valuable insights into the maritime knowledge of the era. This underwater investigation is part of the Kaukana Project, an initiative dedicated to researching the cultural heritage hidden beneath the waters off the coast of Sicily, which has been underway since 2017.

University of Udine

Soprintendenza del Mare

Cover Image Credit: Soprintendenza del Mare

Related Articles

New fibula types discovered at prehistoric Kopilo graves in Bosnia

26 August 2022

26 August 2022

An archaeological dig at Kopilo, a hill settlement founded around 1300 BC about 70 miles west of Sarajevo, has discovered...

A Child’s Skeleton was Unearthed During the Tozkoparan Mound Excavations

12 August 2021

12 August 2021

The skeleton of a child was unearthed during the rescue excavations carried out in the Tozkoparan mound located in Tozkoparan...

Maltaş Temple Revealed

10 August 2021

10 August 2021

Phrygian Valley, 10 meters high monument with Phrygian scriptures inscriptions on it discovered. The unearthed Maltaş monument is actually the...

Scientists may have discovered pieces of the Asteroid that caused the extinction of the Dinosaurs

14 May 2022

14 May 2022

Scientists are piecing together remnants of the day the extinction of the dinosaurs began. A tiny fragment of the asteroid...

An 1800-year-old geometric patterned mosaic was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Bergama

17 June 2022

17 June 2022

During excavations surrounding the Red Basilica at Pergamon, an ancient city in western Turkey that is a UNESCO World Heritage...

The Jinn of Girnavaz Mound

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

Girnavaz mound is in the north of Nusaybin district of Mardin province and Nusaybin 4 km is away. It is...

New Research Reveals Previously Unknown Aspects of the Construction, Use, and Ritual Significance of a Neolithic Rondel Found in Poland

12 December 2024

12 December 2024

An archaeological excavation at Nowe Objezierze in north-western Poland has uncovered a rondel dating to around 4800 BC, offering new...

New study: Humans engaged in large-scale warfare in Europe 5,000 years ago ‘1,000 years earlier than previously thought’

3 November 2023

3 November 2023

Hundreds of human remains unearthed from a burial site point to a  warfare between Stone Age people long before the...

400-year historical document confirms the martyrdom of Japanese Christians

27 February 2021

27 February 2021

In Japan, the suppression of Christianity increased from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th...

Archaeologists find an Anglo-Saxon church at Stoke Mandeville excavation site

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

Archaeologists working on the HS2 project found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon church during their excavations at the former St...

İnteresting Relief on the Roman Millstone

20 February 2021

20 February 2021

During the Cambridgeshire A14 road improvement work, workers found an interesting millstone. A large penis was engraved in the Roman-era...

Traces of fossilized crabs in the Zagros Mountains, Iran which may hint at a hotbed of biodiversity dating from 15 million years

18 April 2022

18 April 2022

A group of paleontologists from the  University of Tehran has discovered traces of fossilized crabs in the Iranian which may...

At a dig site in western Turkey, a centuries-old Byzantine fortress will be revealed

24 December 2021

24 December 2021

Excavation of vast Byzantine-era fortifications considered to be about 900 years old has begun at a dig site in western...

A woman who had brain surgery 9500 years ago will be brought revived

12 September 2021

12 September 2021

A “revival” effort is underway on a woman’s skull unearthed in 1989 during archaeological digs at the Aşıklı Mound in...

God Pan statue unearthed at Istanbul’s historical church of St. Polyeuctus

1 June 2023

1 June 2023

A Pan statue thought to belong to the Roman period was recovered during excavation works carried out by Istanbul Metropolitan...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *