A friend of mine is working on his Ph.D. in marine archaeology, so whenever I hear about another shipwreck that’s been discovered, I get excited on his behalf. (Thanks to co-worker Rob Sheppe for this story.)

We’ve got not one, not two, but five shipwrecks found off Ventotene, an island on Italy’s west coast.

So far, the ships have yielded amphorae (large jars), which carried wine, fish sauce and olive oil, and kitchen tools, such as bowls used for grinding grain. The ships sank without capsizing (which means that they didn’t flip over before they sank), which helped keep their cargo in order.

They went down along a popular trade route (Rome to North Africa) in deep water, which kept them away from the more destructive currents. I can’t wait to see what else they find on the ships when everything’s been identified.

The cool thing about these Roman shipwrecks is how well-preserved they are — and they haven’t been hit by treasure hunters.

The battle between treasure hunters and archaeologists is nothing new. Archaeologists generally maintain that artifacts of history should be preserved for the public for a better understanding of the past, while treasure hunters counter that museums have rooms and rooms of stored artifacts that aren’t even on display — oh, and also “finders keepers.”

Shipwrecks are found much more often than you think — they’re just not all on the scale of the Titanic, and often they’re in pieces all over the ocean floor. They can also be expensive to study properly, and a government or research institution might not have the financial resources that, say, Odyssey Marine Exploration does (a company that made news salvaging lots of coins from a shipwreck off Gibraltar, prompting a court war with Spain).

Check out the Guardian’s list of the Top 10 Best Literary Shipwrecks just for fun — and also:

Taken by the Sea: 11 Real-life Shipwrecks
How the Titanic Worked (by Candace)
Treasure Hunting