Posts Tagged: ‘roman shipwrecks’

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.

Tags: , ,

Recent Postings by Category