DRASM UNESCO
This image shows one of the three shipwrecks found in Tunisia’s Skerki Bank during a 2022 expedition.
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An international team of scientists discovered three historic shipwrecks during an underwater archaeological expedition in the Mediterranean Sea last year.
The expedition also collected high-resolution images of three Roman wrecks originally discovered by oceanographer Robert Ballard and archaeologist Anna Marguerite McCann in the 1980s to 2000s. The researchers’ findings were presented Thursday during a UNESCO press conference in Paris.
Twenty scientists from Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia embarked on a 14-day voyage between August and September on the French research vessel Alfred Merlin.
M. Pradinaud
Scientists carried out their expedition in the Mediterranean last year aboard the research vessel Alfred Merlin.
Using remote-controlled underwater vehicles, so-called ROVs, the researchers explored the Skerki Bank in Tunisia and the Sicilian Channel in Italy.
The team used the research vessel’s underwater mapping and imaging equipment to catalog shipwrecks from ancient times to the 20th century using sonar.
The ROVs descended to human-inaccessible depths to collect images and video of the wrecks and their artifacts. An ROV named Arthur could reach depths of 2,296 to 2,952 feet (700 to 900 meters).
Located on a busy route in the Mediterranean Sea, the Skerki Bank in the Strait of Sicily is one of the most treacherous areas of the sea. Its shallow waters feature a heavily rocky seabed, sometimes less than 1 meter below the waterline.
Angel Fitor/UNESCO
Rocky structures can be seen just below the surface of Keith Reef.
The perilous conditions of Skerki Bank have resulted in shipwrecks for more than 3,000 years, sinking both old merchant ships and ships of the Second World War. The area is of interest to researchers as the route served as a point of contact between several cultures that traversed the Mediterranean Sea.
An ROV named Hilarion dived through the Skerki Bank’s most dangerous zone, called Keith Reef, to conduct the first detailed survey of the seabed. At the bottom of the Tunisian continental shelf were three ships previously unknown to the researchers.
Two of the shipwrecks probably dated to the late 19th or early 20th century, including a “large motorized metal wreck” with no trace of cargo. On this wreck, researchers found that the davits, which would have been used to lower lifeboats, were facing outwards, meaning any crew could have abandoned ship. The second ship was probably a wooden fishing boat.
DRASM UNESCO
This image shows one of the shipwrecks on the Tunisian continental shelf.
A third shipwreck was probably a merchant ship that sailed between the first and second centuries BC. sailed. The ROV uncovered artifacts that appear to be amphorae, tall, narrow-necked, two-handled jars that Greeks and Romans may have used to store wine.
The team hopes sifting through the archives could uncover the individual names of the sunken ships, as none of them were easily identifiable.
Meanwhile, explorations along the Italian continental shelf have uncovered three Roman shipwrecks dating between the first and first centuries BC. rediscovered, including two merchant ships and a cargo ship. All three scattered artifacts on the seabed including amphorae, pottery, building materials, jars, pots and lamps.
The items were likely part of the trade between cultures that criss-crossed the Mediterranean thousands of years ago.
V.Creuze ROV Drassm/UNESCO
Roman shipwrecks on the Italian continental shelf included vessels with handles called amphorae.
“We will write a new page in the history of trade,” said Barbara Davidde, underwater archaeologist and director of Italy’s national inspectorate of underwater cultural heritage. “Thanks to the analysis of the cargo, we can study the relations between the countries of the Mediterranean and the maritime trade that connected different parts of the Mediterranean.”
Surprisingly, the shipwrecks and their artifacts have remained largely untouched since their discovery between 1988 and 2000.
The wrecks were originally located outside territorial waters, meaning their artifacts were easy targets for looting. Now the areas around the wrecks are protected under the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
V.Creuze ROV Drassm/UNESCO
Ceramics from an ancient Roman shipwreck have been found scattered across the seabed.
The designation will allow for more accurate mapping of shipwrecks and the definition of protection zones.
“We are aware of the enormous potential and importance of underwater cultural heritage,” said Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
“UNESCO is actively engaged in supporting such underwater archeology missions around the world. As you know, the Mediterranean Sea, with its very rich history and countless shipwrecks and archaeological sites, offers a unique and fascinating stage for such expeditions. And I hope there will be many more to bring us together in the future.”