I have long pondered diving off the coast of Naples, in the Bay of Naples, in search of ancient Roman wrecks. There needs to be more work done in this area of the world as 1) underwater archaeology typically unveils artifacts in complete condition and 2) there is a ton of wrecks of Roman, Etruscan, Greek and probably Phoenician ships that could reveal a lot more about ancient travel and trade.

Recently, some Italian archaeologists discovered five Roman ships that date from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. What is known is that the material remains left behind reveal the trading habits of the Roman empire – fish from Spain and northern Africa, wine from Italy. How all five ships came to sink in this one spot is not yet known.

“The ships appear to have been heading for safe anchorage, but they never made it,” said Timmy Gambin, head of archaeology for the Aurora Trust (www.auroratrust.com). “So in a relatively small area we have five wrecks…a graveyard of ships.”

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