Roman shipwreck with ancient jars found off Sicily

Italian divers have found a more than 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck off the coast of Sicily, its remains still piled with hundreds of well-preserved clay jars once used to carry goods across the ancient Mediterranean.

The wreck was located about three miles off Mazara del Vallo, on Sicily’s western coast, at a depth of around 46 meters, or 150 feet. Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called it “one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years.”

Specialist divers from the cultural heritage protection arm of Italy’s police, known as the Carabinieri Art Squad, found the vessel after a tip-off from fishermen. The Italian culture ministry said the ship dates from the second or first century BC. Local media reports cited by CBS News and the BBC said the wreckage is about 21 meters long and 6 meters wide.

Fisherman and free-diver Giacomo De Mola said on social media that he first noticed something on his boat’s underwater scanner that looked like a large rock while surveying the seabed near Mazara del Vallo. He decided to dive for a closer look.

“Visibility wasn’t the best,” De Mola wrote, according to CBS News. “I got closer. And my heart stopped.”

What he saw was not a rock, but a large field of amphorae, the tall ceramic containers commonly used in antiquity to store and transport goods. “This is, without a doubt, the most incredible discovery of my life,” he said, according to the BBC.

De Mola said he reported the find immediately to the Superintendent of the Sea of the Sicilian Region. He later posted video footage of the site, describing eels, snappers and “countless marine life” among the jars. “It’s hard to describe what it feels like to be among the first humans, in nearly 20 centuries, to see that place again,” he said. “This time we didn’t just find a wreck, we found a piece of our history.”

The ship’s cargo was mostly made up of Dressel 1A amphorae, according to CBS News, a tall, cylindrical type of jar mainly used for carrying wine. The BBC reported that amphorae were used more broadly to transport goods such as wine, olive oil and grain.

Officials said safety measures will be taken to protect the wreck as the site is investigated. Experts are expected to study the vessel and its cargo to determine more about its nature and role.

The Mediterranean seabed is believed to contain many similar ancient wrecks. The BBC reported that another vessel from the first or second century BC was found northwest of Rome in 2023, also carrying hundreds of amphorae. In 2018, a Greek merchant ship dating back more than 2,400 years was found lying on its side off the Bulgarian coast and was described at the time as the world’s oldest-known intact shipwreck.