Additional Ingots Recovered Off the Coast of Sicily

News March 1, 2017

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GELA, SICILY—Seeker reports that an additional 47 ingots of cast metal have been recovered from a 2,600-year-old shipwreck located just 1,000 feet off the coast of southern Sicily, near the ancient port of Gela. Thirty-nine bars of the alloy, made of copper, zinc, and lead, were found on the same wreck in 2015. Underwater archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa, Sicily’s superintendent of the sea, said that the ship probably sank during a storm. “The finding confirms that about a century after its foundation in 689 B.C., Gela grew to become a wealthy city with artisan workshops specialized in the production of prized artifacts,” Tusa explained. To read about another recent underwater discovery, go to “Antikythera Man.”

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