2,000-year-old Roman ship unearthed off the coast of Croatia

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Nov 2022 12:37

Divers found an old, preserved structure five feet below the water's surface.

A visitor swims at the underwater archaeological park of the ancient port of Amathus in Limassol, Cyprus. (Reuters)

A Roman ship that had sunk more than 2,000 years prior was discovered off the Croatian coast. In the vicinity of Sukoan, this vessel was discovered two meters under the sand.

The ship was built in the first century, according to archaeologists in the Zadar river area. The ship itself was around three meters wide, and more is still being learned about its depth. Shipworms, a marine mollusk that eats through wooden surfaces, had caused some damage to the ship.

The International Centre for Underwater Archaeology made this archaeological find as part of its collaboration with the German Archaeological Institute and other world experts in the field.

After undersea archaeologists identified fragments of wood and coins that dated to the reign of Emperor Constantine, they started to identify pieces of the ship. It has taken some time for this discovery to receive an accurate identification.

Following the discovery of these fragments underwater, experts conducted a thorough underwater survey, revealing information about the historic Roman port city of Barbir. This discovery may lead to the discovery of previously undiscovered details about ancient Roman society.

It is thought that the ship was constructed around the same time as the port of Barbir. This significant find was made by archaeologists after six years of digging beneath the Zadar river.

Some of the ship's components were sent to a lab in France for testing, which will help experts find some important information about the ancient world.

The vessel will be kept beneath layers of sand and possibly stone until archaeologists are prepared to delve deeper into their discovery. To fully disclose the remaining components of the seagoing craft, the crew intends to return in 2023.

More than two thousand years after the discovery, new information about ancient trade routes was revealed. It was anticipated that traders using these ships would have made it as far as North Africa from present-day Greece, Turkey, and Italy.