Archaeologists found the ship filled with hundreds of intact jars under just 6 feet of water off one of Mallorca’s most popular beaches.
Arqueomallornauta - Consell de Mallorca , Universitat de Barcelona , Universidad de Cádiz , Universitat de les Illes BalearsThe wreck was immerse below the backbone until 2019 , which prevented damage by sealing it off from the element for hundreds of years .
Almost two millennia ago , a Roman ship carrying C of jars full of food for thought and wine capsized and sink in the shallow H2O of the Bay of Palma in Mallorca , Spain . And for the past 1,700 twelvemonth , it remain there , undisturbed and unexplored — until now .
According toThe Guardian , the wreck , today known asSes Fontanelles , come forth off the Mallorca coastin summer 2019 after a violent storm shift the George Sand around it . find 6.5 feet below ocean grade and 164 feet from one of the most popular beaches , the ship had rest unusually hidden all along . Most stunning of all , a naturally - formed backbone layer had keep oxygen from destroying it .
Arqueomallornauta-Consell de Mallorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Cádiz, Universitat de les Illes BalearsThe shipwreck was buried below the sand until 2019, which prevented damage by sealing it off from the elements for hundreds of years.
The find was so incredible that the Universities of the Balearic Islands , Barcelona , and Cádiz launched a united three - class undertaking calledArqueomallornautato recuperate the ship and lading . The task ’s first phase , which investigator hope will shed unexampled light on marine traffic during Late Antiquity , began in November 2021 .
“ It ’s incredibly difficult — almost impossible – to find whole amphorae that give birth inscriptions , and also still have the remains of their contents , ” Dr. Darío Bernal - Casasola of the University of Cádiz , toldThe Guardian . “ The province of preservation here is just amazing . And you have got all this I just two meter of water where millions of people have swum . ”
Inside the amphorae , ancient Rome ’s traditional two - handle Lucius Clay jars , archaeologists incur traces of wine , olive fossil oil , and a fermented fish sauce know as garum , a form or Roman - geological era catsup , according toThe Local . researcher conceive that the ship was transporting the goods to the Italian peninsula from Cartagena , Spain , and made a port call at Mallorca when it go down .
Arqueomallornauta-Consell de Mallorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Cádiz, Universitat de les Illes BalearsArchaeologists have recovered some 300 amphorae with their contents intact and their inscriptions still legible.
Arqueomallornauta - Consell de Mallorca , Universitat de Barcelona , Universidad de Cádiz , Universitat de les Illes BalearsArchaeologists have recovered some 300 amphorae with their contents integral and their inscriptions still legible .
At the height of the Roman Empire in 117 A.D. , its territory spanned from Europe to Western Asia and the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa . Transporting goodness to distant regions by ship was plebeian , rendering the countless shipwrecks receive today none too rare . TheSes Fontanelles , however , is a different beast .
Measuring 39 long by 16 to 19 foot wide , the wooden ship is not only improbably entire , but containssome of the rarest findsin the Mediterranean Sea . Alongside 300 amphorae of food and drink , it hold a cooking pot , rock oil lamp , shoes made of rope and leather , and carpenter ’s exercise — one of only four ever establish in the region .
Arqueomallornauta-Consell de Mallorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Cádiz, Universitat de les Illes BalearsResearchers are currently focused on recovering the ship itself.
“ Things have been so dead preserved that we have found snatch of textile , a leather skid and an espadrille , ” Dr. Miguel Ángel Cau from the University of Barcelona toldThe Guardian . “ The most surprising thing about the boat is just how well keep it is — even the wood of the hull … It ’s wood that you could knock — like it ’s from yesterday . ”
Meanwhile , the eternal sleep of these ancient artifacts shed light on the cultural belief of the meter .
Researchers quickly noted that the recovered oil lamp bore the pagan symbol of the synodic month goddess Diana , but that the amphorae were imprint with Christian seal according to apress releaseput out by Universidad de Cádiz .
Arqueomallornauta-Consell de Mallorca, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad de Cádiz, Universitat de les Illes BalearsThe finds will eventually be put on public display.
Arqueomallornauta - Consell de Mallorca , Universitat de Barcelona , Universidad de Cádiz , Universitat de les Illes BalearsResearchers are currently center on recovering the ship itself .
“ The crew were probably heathenish , but some of the merchandise they were dribble has Christian symbolic representation , ” said Dr. Cau . “ You have to be heedful about how you read that — that shipment could have been from an ecclesiastic authority — but you have that coexistence between the pagan and the Christian . ”
“ That may tell us a number about the casual life for the crew . They might have said , ‘ calculate , I ’m a sailor and I believe what I believe , but you want me to carry a Christian cargo , I ’m fine with that if the money ’s skillful . ' ”
For historiographer Enrique García Riaza from the University of the Balearic Islands , this wreck try just how life-sustaining the Balearic archipelago was for the ancient Romans . He toldThe Guardianthat the island were potential a theatrical production post between Italy and Spain and used by the Balearic elites as social and economic hubs for networking and trade endeavour .
Arqueomallornauta - Consell de Mallorca , Universitat de Barcelona , Universidad de Cádiz , Universitat de les Illes BalearsThe finds will eventually be put on public show .
“ This is n’t just about Mallorca ; in the whole western Mediterranean , there are very few wreck with such a singular cargo , ” said Jaume Cardell , the fountainhead of archaeology at the Consell of Mallorca .
With no human remains found in the wreck , archaeologists believe that the work party had either already made it safely to shore or else was sweep away by the storm that likely sank the boat , according toThe Guardian . Ultimately , the intention of theArqueomallornautais to recover and preserve the wreck and its cargo .
The second stage of recover the Kingston-upon Hull is now in progress and is scheduled to be fill in by 2023 . After that , investigator trust to put the whole ship on public video display .
After reading about the 1,700 - class - old Roman shipwreck in Mallorca , study about theworld ’s old shipwreckfound in the Black Sea . Then , understand about the world’smost intriguing shipwreck , from Blackbeard’sQueen Anne ’s Revengeto theTitanic .
