2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck discovered, food intact

One of the best preserved shipwrecks ever  found has been discovered off the Italian coast.

Divers say they have discovered a ship off  the coast of Italy which they believe is about 2,000 years old.

The ship, which was found in the sea off the  town on Varazze in the province of Liguria, is thought to be a Roman-era  commercial vessel.

A search for the shipwreck was launched after  local fisherman revealed they kept finding pieces of pottery in their  nets.

The divers found the wreck so well preserved  even the food, still sealed in over 200 pots, is intact.

‘The peculiarity of this is that the wreck  could be almost intact,’ Lt Col Francesco Schilardi of the police divers’ group  told the BBC.

‘We believe it dates to sometime between the  1st Century BC and the 1st Century AD,’

Researchers believe the mud on the seabed  protected the wreck.

Test on some of the recovered jars revealed  they contained pickled fish, grain, wine and oil.

The foodstuffs were traded in Spain for other  goods.

‘There are some broken jars around the wreck,  but we believe that most of the amphorae inside the ship are still sealed and  food filled,” said Lt. Col. Schilardi.

The ship is thought to have travelled on  trade routes between Spain and what is now central Italy and was loaded with  more than 200 clay amphorae likely to have contained fish, wine, oil and  grain.

(Daily Mail)