Roman shipwreck discovery in Croatia – History Blog

The Roman shipwreck in excellent preservation was excavated from the seabed of the Bay of Babir, Croatia. The ship dates back to the 1st to 2nd centuries and is about 12.5 meters (40 feet) long. Many features of the work on the ship’s upper level survived, which were rare in ancient shipwrecks.

Underwater archaeologists at the Zadar International Underwater Archaeology Center encountered the first body of a shipwreck while investigating a Roman-era port in 2021.

“We encountered a wooden nail, which suggests that there might be something important nearby. The next year we expanded the search area and realized it was a Roman shipwreck. After four and a half years of research, this last season allowed us to uncover the entire ship,” Mladen Pešić, International Health Center, Zadar in Zadar in Zadar, Hort h.

Hundreds of olive pits were found in the wreckage, proving that the ship was used to transport olives, which may have been transported from a local agricultural estate near the port.

“This is a very precise and stable type of ship building that can carry heavy loads and long-distance sails. These ships were crucial to life on coasts and islands two thousand years ago,” explained Anton Divić, owner of Croatian underwater archaeology company Navararchos.

Due to the cost and danger of damage, the ship cannot be removed and it will be covered with geotextile before being repaved with the sand that protected it before excavation. Archaeologists have thoroughly documented their structure and contacts and have taken thousands of overlapping photos to create photographic models. The detailed data will also be used to reconstruct a 1:10 ship model to demonstrate its appearance when it is complete. The model will provide researchers with new information on how to build and navigate such ships in ancient times.