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A 2,100-Year-Old Adrasan Shipwreck Still Holds an Ancient Delivery That Never Arrived
Somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean around 2,100 years ago, merchants loaded thousands of newly made plates, bowls and serving dishes onto a ship and prepared them for a journey that would never reach its destination. The vessel sank off what is now Adrasan, on Türkiye’s southern coast, taking its commercial cargo to the seabed. More…
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Divers Map Traces of a Medieval English Town Lost to the North Sea 700 Years Ago
Divers surveying the seabed off Cromer on England’s Norfolk coast have documented stone structures associated with the submerged medieval town of Shipden. The work may help researchers determine whether some of the remains belonged to buildings and harbor installations or formed part of an attempt to hold back the advancing North Sea. The underwater investigation…
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Ancient Ship Carvings Turn a Cyprus Temple Wall Into a Maritime Archive Built Over Centuries
Dozens of ancient ship carvings appear to sail across the weathered sandstone blocks of a monumental temple in Cyprus. Some consist of little more than a hull, while others preserve masts, rigging, oars and distinctive projections at the bow. These images at Kition Kathari in modern Larnaka were already known to archaeologists. A new study…
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Hundreds of Dressel 1A Amphorae Found at 2,100-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck off Sicily
At a depth of 46 metres off southwestern Sicily, investigators have documented a Roman shipwreck surrounded by hundreds of amphorae, two lead anchor stocks and another structure made of lead. The site lies about three miles from Mazara del Vallo and has been provisionally dated to between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Italy’s Ministry…
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A Vast 18th-Century Warship Slipway Is Emerging from the Mud of an English River
At low tide on the Beaulieu River, volunteers are scraping away layers of dark mud from a structure that once carried Royal Navy warships into the water. When the tide rises, British Army divers continue the search below the surface. The excavation is taking place at Buckler’s Hard in Hampshire, one of Britain’s most important…
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Rare 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Sword Discovered at Salcombe Wreck Site
A remarkably rare Bronze Age sword has been recovered from the seabed at the protected Salcombe wreck sites off the coast of Devon in south-west England. The weapon was discovered earlier this year by volunteer divers Becky Gill and Catherine Gill during archaeological investigations by the South West Maritime Archaeological Group. Initial specialist assessment dates…
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A One-Ton Cannon Found Beneath an English Park Reveals Hull’s Lost Dockside Past
A one-ton cannon found beneath an English park has revealed a forgotten layer of Hull’s waterfront history, hidden below the lawns and pathways of Queen’s Gardens. The discovery was made during restoration work in the heart of the northern English city, where construction crews were excavating for a new water management tank. What began as…
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2,000-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck Reveals How Ancient Engineers Waterproofed Their Vessels
A Roman-era shipwreck off the coast of Ilovik Island is offering a rare, close-up look at how ancient shipbuilders protected their vessels against the constant stress of the sea. By combining chemical analysis with pollen research, scientists have reconstructed not only the materials used on the ship, but also the environments it moved through and…
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17th-Century Dutch Bronze Cannon Discovered Hidden Inside a Ship in İzmir
A routine shipbreaking operation in İzmir has uncovered something no one expected: a 17th-century Dutch bronze cannon, hidden inside a dismantled vessel and forgotten for centuries. Now displayed together with its ammunition, the find opens a rare window onto the maritime world of early modern Europe. An Unexpected Find During Shipbreaking The vessel arrived in…