11 February 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

13.000 Ostraca Discovered in Upper Egypt

20 December 2021

20 December 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that a German-Egyptian mission at the Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel...

“Land of the Thousand Temples” Kancheepuram in India

20 May 2021

20 May 2021

Kancheepuram, one of the most sacred and religious Hindu pilgrim centers in India is also called the ‘Land of the...

Medieval gold ‘lynx’ earrings from Ani Ruins

29 December 2022

29 December 2022

A pair of lynx-shaped gold earrings have been unearthed near the ruins of Ani, the once great metropolis known as...

3 Bronze Shields and Helmet of 2700 Years Old Belonging to Urartians Found in Ayanis Castle

8 September 2024

8 September 2024

Three bronze shields and a bronze helmet dedicated to Haldi, the chief god of the Urartians, were discovered during excavations...

Peru finds perfectly preserved a wooden figure in the Americas’ largest mud-brick city

29 June 2022

29 June 2022

A perfectly preserved wooden figure has been discovered at the Chan Chan archaeological site, in northern Peru, the Ministry of...

Archaeologists discover traces of ancient Jalula, the city that witnessed the famous battle of the same name 1386 years ago

23 November 2023

23 November 2023

The  Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) has announced the discovery of the boundaries and various structures of...

Archaeologists uncover 4,000-year-old earliest large-scale Archaic fish-trapping facility recorded in ancient Mesoamerica

28 November 2024

28 November 2024

Archaeologists, using drones and Google Earth imagery, have discovered a 4,000-year-old network of earthen canals in what is now Belize...

3500-year-old mysterious hieroglyphs discovered in Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa deciphered

12 October 2023

12 October 2023

Some of the Anatolian hieroglyphs discovered last year in the Yerkapı Tunnel in Hattusa, the former capital of the Hittite...

‘Frankfurt Silver Inscription’ Archaeologists Unearth Oldest Christian Artifact North of the Alps

13 December 2024

13 December 2024

An ancient silver amulet unearthed in Frankfurt pushes back Christianity’s history in the region by 50 to 100 years. The...

Ancient Ruins Hidden Under Thessaloniki Metro Revealed

15 January 2023

15 January 2023

The finds unearthed during the construction of local metro facilities in Thessaloniki, a Greek port city on the Thermaic Gulf...

Hundreds of skeletons found on Welsh beach

4 July 2021

4 July 2021

Archaeologists found the burial site of women and children just below the surface of the sand dunes on Whitesands Bay...

Archaeology team discovers a 7,000-year-old and 13-hectare settlement in Serbia

30 April 2024

30 April 2024

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown Late Neolithic settlement near the Tamiš River in Northeast Serbia. The discovery was made...

History of 8,500 years waits for a museum

19 June 2023

19 June 2023

The conservation process of the Yenikapı shipwrecks, which were discovered during the Marmaray project and considered the largest collection of...

A still life fresco discovered in new excavations of Pompeii Regio IX

28 June 2023

28 June 2023

Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Pompeii have uncovered a gorgeous still-life fresco depicting a platter covered in food and...

Xujiayao hominid’s brain in China had the biggest known brain of the time

17 January 2022

17 January 2022

A study showed that the ancient relatives of modern humans in northern China may have had an “Einstein’s brain” at...