A 2,000-year-old Roman wooden boat has been discovered in the shallow waters of the Adriatic off the coast of central Croatia. The boat is about 10 feet wide and so far marine archaeologists have uncovered about 30 feet of its length. The edges of the boat have been ravaged by shipworms, but the bulk of the hull has survived in good condition, preserved under layers of sand.
The wreck was found in 2021 when maritime archaeologists spotted Roman coins on the seabed next to a single wooden board. They returned to the site this year and excavated the find site, revealing the hull. It was less than seven feet under the surface of the water, buried among the remains of the Roman port town of Barbir.
“The ancient port of Barbir near Sukošan was discovered in 1973, and for a long time it was documented only on the surface, thanks to research by archaeologist Boris Ilakovac. In 2017, new, more serious work began in the area, in parallel with the research on a Roman villa on the mainland, which was significantly damaged due to modern construction. Luckily, part of the site under the sea is well preserved,” said [Mladen Pešić, director of the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar] who is also the head of this extensive research project.
I know in places like the Mediterranean coasts it's almost impossible to dig a hole without finding some sort of artifact from those days, but 7 feet of water? That's like a swimming pool. Unless it was miles from shore, how many people have swum over that or even touched it?
ReplyDeleteI agree. Seven feet isn't even near the deep end of a pool. Someone should just wrap a chain around that sunk boat and yank it out. See what it really looks like. Let's get this over with now!
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But but the oceans are rising so what happened? Did it sink in 4 ft of water?
ReplyDeleteSo... a town that was once at sea level is now, 2000 years later, under 7 feet of water. Must have been caused by all of those Roman SUVs.
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