Roman shipwreck with hundreds of amphorae found off Sicily

Euronews ^ | August 9, 2026 | Fortunato Pinto

[SunkenCiv]

A Roman-era shipwreck has been found off Mazara del Vallo, along with hundreds of amphorae on the seabed. Culture Minister Giuli has hailed the discovery as "extraordinary"... 

A Roman-era shipwreck, probably dating from between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, has been located around three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo, at a depth of 46 metres. 

On the seabed, the Italian Ministry of Culture reports, there are hundreds of amphorae, mostly of the Dressel 1A type, two lead anchor stocks and another structure made of the same material. 

The discovery was made during a joint inspection carried out by the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit (TPC) in Palermo, the Sea Superintendency of the Sicilian Region and the Carabinieri Underwater Unit in Messina, with support from the Carabinieri patrol boat in Trapani, following a tip-off from private citizens... 

This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence and originally published in Italian.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: amphora; amphorae; godsgravesglyphs; italy; mazaradelvallo; romanempire; shipwreck; sicily

[SunkenCiv]

Roman shipwreck with hundreds of amphorae found off Sicily | 1:07 
Euronews | 2.57M subscribers | 12,088 views | August 9, 2026

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the link!

• WATCH -- Fisherman Discovers Ancient Roman Shipwreck and Piles of Cargo Off Sicily's Coast: 'A Piece of Our History' | Amy Furr | Breitbart News
• Ancient Roman shipwreck discovered off Sicily coast | Ian Aikman & Mimi Swaby | BBC
• Mazara del Vallo [Brave search]

[Opinionated Blowhard]

If you read a story about some discovery about Rome, chances are that it involves olive oil and containers used to store and carry it. The articles about the Roman trash pits talk about how about 50% of the content are shards from amphorae. You’d think that Romans survived on olive oil alone.

[Thank You Rush]

I hope I’m not the only one who had to look up the meaning of the word - amphorae.....

[GingisK]

You are not alone. ;-D

[Flag_This]

”The articles about the Roman trash pits talk about how about 50% of the content are shards from amphorae.”

Wine, oil, grain, all sorts of stuff was transported in amphorae.

[sopo]

Acts 27 is such a vivid telling of sailing on a Roman cargo vessel of that time, Paul’s shipwreck at Melta as recounted by the physician Luke. That ship of Alxandria had a cargo of wheat, in the time of Nero, and 276 souls on board, none of them lost due to Paul’s good advice,the only explicit divine intervention being the angel’s prophetic encouragement to Paul.

[Red Badger]

Fortunato Pinto?

I hope this isn’t explosive news!...............

[montag813]

Reminds me of “The Deep” and peak Jacqueline Bisset.

[Sirius Lee]

I hope they didn’t run into a Moray ‘mongst the amphorae.

[sopo]

Melta= Malta , Melta sounds like Vesuvius involved

[woodbutcher1963]

She looked great in a white t shirt.
That was the first thing I thought of too.

[SunkenCiv]

Same guy was involved.

[SunkenCiv]

• Same island, different wreck, from the FRchives: Ancient Greek Bronze Fished From Sea Dazz[l]es Italy [04/01/2003]

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, Ted Tucker was involved, had my topics mixed up.

[DannyTN]

And yet neither of you posted the definition for the rest of us.

So right after I look up Jacqueline Bisset in the white T-shirt, I’ll go look up the definition of amphorae.

Priorities.

That they didn’t post a picture is worse than not posting the definition.

[DannyTN]

Rules:

[SunkenCiv]

Whatever you do, never pull the finger.

[Puppage]

Nope

[DannyTN]

Amphorae (plural of amphora) are ancient clay jars with two vertical handles and a narrow neck. They often taper to a pointed bottom so they could pack tightly in ships or stick into sand. People in ancient Greece and Rome used them to store and move wine, olive oil, and grain.