Five "Pristine" Roman Shipwrecks Found

[Minimalist]

ROME - A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a "graveyard" of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene.

The trading vessels, dating from the first century BC to the fifth century AD, lie more than 100 meters underwater and are amongst the deepest wrecks discovered in the Mediterranean in recent years, the researchers said on Thursday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32103780/ns ... e-science/

[Sam Salmon]

100 metres isn't at all deep and chances are the wrecks have been dragged over by trawler's nets many times over the past 50 years.

[kbs2244]

Well, they did call them "pristine "
And the PICs do not show any damage.
And 300 feet down is not normal SCUBA diving depth.
And they may be in an area where trawling isn't worthwile.
Lots of "ands" and "ifs"
But maybe we have a good find.

[Rokcet Scientist]

300 feet certainly isn't "normal scuba depth". Only a few thousand scuba divers worldwide are certified to work at depths like that (and they make a fortune. In a horrible job. At the expense of their health). On 2 hour dives they get to actually spend 5 minutes at 300 feet to work. The rest of the dive time is spent descending and ascending, compressing and decompressing. Utterly boring. And without a beer, a broad, or a TV to while away the bore.

'Holiday scuba divers' – certified – don't go deeper than 60 feet, because not enough light penetrates there to see unaided. It's almost pitch dark.
Well-trained scuba divers, and most pros, are certified down to 120 feet, where you always need artificial light.

300 feet is excessively deep for scuba diving. It can be done though. At great cost.

[Minimalist]

More finds while swimming off the Italian coast. This time, a town off the Calabrian shore.

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus ... 66942.html

An amateur scuba diver has discovered what may be the ruins of an ancient city off the coast of Calabria, a local town council said Friday.

Alessandro Ciliberto, an architect with a passion for scuba diving, discovered a group of stone blocks around 3-4 metres under water while he was diving 15 metres from the shore near the town of Squillace on Calabria's east coast.