GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA—Skilled divers from the group Global Underwater Explorers are helping Italian archaeologists investigate a shipwreck under 410 feet of water near the Aeolian Islands. The well-preserved ship, thought to have sailed between Rome and Carthage sometime between 218 and 210 B.C., has been out of reach of looters and fishing lines and nets. “It felt very much like a ghost ship awaiting the boarding of ancient mariners,” diver Jarrod Jablonski told The Associated Press. He and other divers were followed by Italian archaeologists riding in a small submarine who pointed out artifacts of interest. Known as the Panarea III, the ship had been carrying amphoras perhaps filled with wine or olive oil and an altar inscribed in Greek. Metal supports in its base probably attached the altar to the deck. To read more about nautical excavations, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "10 Greatest Shipwrecks."
