Boka Kotorska Shipwreck

AFP seems to be the only major news agency that picked this one up … via IAfrica:

A shipwreck believed to date back to Roman times was found at the bottom of Montenegro’s Boka Kotorska bay, officials said on Tuesday.

“We believe we have found the wreckage of a ship that could have been used to transport goods,” Montenegro’s regional Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute said in a statement.

Officials refused to reveal the location of the shipwreck until the area was fully secured.

The wreckage was found by the crew of the US explorer ship Hercules. Since May, the crew and the ship have been assisting Montenegrin archaeologists to map and discover underwater findings.

The Romans were present in the waters off what is now Montenegro from the year 9 AD till the 5th and 6th centuries AD, before Slavic people inhabited the area.

The incipit of a similar piece at Visitmontenegro.com adds a few details:

Underwater archaeological exploration performed on 25th May from the research vessel “Hercules” resulted in the latest discovery of the remains of ship which carried ceramic tiles used as roofing material – it is assumed that it dates from the Roman period.

The General Manager of the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Ruzica Ivanovic, says that, in case additional analysis confirm that this is the boat of the Roman period it will be the most significant archaeological discovery made on the bottom of the sea in Montenegro.

Within the research project of the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Regional Center for Training of Divers, the Center for Underwater Demining and the “RPM Nautical” Foundation from Florida, there were other important discoveries: the wreck of a German submarine sunk 90 years ago and one amphorae locality.

… it goes on with a plea from Ivanovic for more funding for cooperative projects like this one.

• Roman shipwreck find (AFP via iAfrica)

• A boat of the Roman period discovered in Boka (Visitmontenegro.com)