2,000 years after sinking, a Roman ship has been discovered off the coast of Croatia. The vessel was discovered two meters deep, covered in the sand near the vacation town of Sukošan.
- JERUSALEM POST – Archaeologists in the Zadar River region say the ship dates back to the first century. The ship itself was around three meters wide with more of its depth still being discovered. It had suffered some shipworms, a marine-based mollusk that breaks through wooden surfaces.
- HERITAGE DAILY – The discovery was made by the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology, which has been working in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute and a multi-national team.
- ART NEWS – The ancient port of Barbir was first identified underwater in 1973, but archaeologists have only been seriously working in the area since 2017. In 2021, underwater archaeologists began to suspect that it was the site of a major wreck after they found pieces of wood and thirty bronze coins minted during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine. Aerial photographs later showed evidence of submerged structures.
- CROATIA WEEK – Apart from the outer parts that have been damaged by shipworms, the rest of the boat is in incredibly good condition thanks to the fact that the wood has been preserved in the sand for two millennia, the head of research said.
B.C. Begley 