Sometime between the second and first centuries BCE, a Roman ship carrying hundreds of wine-holding vases sank to the bottom of the sea near the coast of modern-day Sicily. And that’s where it lay for the next two thousand years—until two divers ran into the shipwreck by accident. In a statement (translated via Google) last Saturday, the Italian Ministry of Culture reported the discovery of a Roman-era shipwreck roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) off the coast of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily, Italy. Divers Giacomo De Mola and Bisulli Igor encountered the ship at a depth of 151 feet (46 meters). Further investigations by government authorities found that the ship carried hundreds of amphorae, two-handled pots archaeologists believe were used to carry different liquids and grains. Scoperto al largo di Mazara del Vallo un relitto romano del II-I sec a.C., con centinaia di anfore.«Una delle più importanti scoperte archeologiche subacquee degli ultimi anni», dichiara il Min Giuli, congratulandosi con @_Carabinieri_ Nucleo TPC e SopMare della Regione Sicilia pic.twitter.com/H1JbfX8MzF — Ministero della Cultura (@MiC_Italia) August 8, 2026 “This is one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years,” Alessandro Giuli, Italy’s minister of culture, said in the statement.