Stunning Ancient Roman Underwater Treasure Trove Discovered Off Coast Of Caesarea

MessageToEagle | May 17, 2016 | Archaeology News | No Comments

MessageToEagle.com – Archaeological underwater discoveries are always exciting.

About 1,600 years ago, a Roman ship filled with beautiful bronze statues, coins and other intriguing artifacts sank in a storm in the ancient Mediterranean harbor off Israel’s coast in Caesarea. Now, two amateur divers, Ran Feinstein and Ofer Ra’anan, who were swimming in the ancient harbor before the Passover holiday last month, have accidentally found this stunning ancient Roman underwater treasure.

Ancient Roman underwater treasure — Items, which the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) estimate to be around 1600 years old, are displayed after it was recovered from a merchant ship in the ancient harbor of the Caesarea National Park May 16. Photo: Reuters

“It took us a couple of seconds to understand what was going on,” Raanan recalled.

Ancient Roman underwater treasures — Image: Assaf Peretz/The Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority

He said they left the first sculpture on the seabed where they found it, but then when they discovered a second one, they realized it was something special and brought it to the surface. They later searched the area and uncovered more ancient artifacts.

“It was amazing, I dive here every other weekend and I never found anything like that ever,” he said.

Ancient Roamn underwater treasure — A diver removing one of the bronze sculptures at the Caesarea site. Apparently the artifacts were loaded on a Roman merchant ship that sunk some 1,600 years ago. Image credit: Ran Feinstein

It is Israel’s biggest find of underwater Roman-era artifacts in three decades, archaeologists said.

The Israel Antiquities Authority sent its divers to investigate and recover the precious Roman-era cargo, which includes bronze statues, lamps, jars, animal-shaped objects, anchors and thousands of coins with images of Roman emperors Constantine and Licinius.

Some of the objects date to the fourth century, while others are from the first and second centuries, said Jacob Sharvit, director of marine archaeology at the IAA.

The port of Caesarea was commissioned by Herod the Great in the 1st century BC and became an important economic artery in the Mediterranean Sea until it sank for unknown reasons soon after its completion. Some scientists believe it is located on a geological fault line; other theories point to a series of earthquakes or even a big tsunami.

Starting in the 1960s, Israeli archaeologists brought the sunken port back to life, along with Caesarea’s above-ground wonders, including the Crusaders’ church and Roman theater. Today the land-level archaeological treasures are open to visitors, and are part of the Caesarea National Park.

Last year, Israeli divers found 2,000 gold coins in Caesarea dating back to the 10th century.

We cannot help wondering what more is hidden underwater off Israel’s coast in Caesarea.

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