An ancient shipwreck, holding artifacts from the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome, is being explored in the waters off the Aeolian Islands, near Italy.
The ship sank beneath the waves sometime during the Punic Wars, between B.C.E. 218 and B.C.E. 201. The relic was found under 410 feet of water, in a field of debris, artifacts scattered around the remains of the ancient vessel. This depth protected the relic from other vessels and vandals for centuries.
"This shipwreck is a very important occasion to understand more about daily life on the ancient ship as well as the real dynamics of ancient trade. Of course, there are other similar shipwrecks that can offer similar study cases. But this has the peculiarity to be in a very good preservation condition," Sebastiano Tusa, an Italian archaeologist studying the wreck, said.
Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is assisting Italian researchers with investigation of the underwater wreckage. The non-profit organization, based in Florida, is dedicated to raising education about undersea activities, including diving. They promote exploration of marine environments, as well as protection of the global ocean.
Divers associated with the GUE are able to submerge to significantly greater depths than normal, allowing more detailed investigation of the wreck. This included the retrieval of artifacts from the remains of the ship.
Robotic vessels can retrieve some artifacts found underwater, but human divers are better able to articulate the items, and determine which are worth bringing to the surface.
Divers need to come up from these depths slowly, or they could suffer from nitrogen toxicity, commonly known as "the bends."
Project Baseline, a network of more than 40 teams of volunteers in over 20 nations, is also involved in the project to investigate the discovery. Among its partners is Global Underwater Explorers.
The Panarea III was first discovered in 2010 by American investigators, utilizing sonar and a remotely-controlled submersible. The wooden vessel is roughly 50 feet long and may have been a cargo ship. Researchers are unsure whether it was owned by a wealthy merchant or was part of the Roman military.
"Our volunteers record and catalog observations of these places into a widely accessible database. It is our vision that through extensive, long term documentation of these areas, the scientific and non scientific community will listen to the story of water that is being influenced and told by generation after generation," Project Baseline reports on its Web site.
