About 1,700 years ago, a ship carrying hundreds of amphorae of wine, olives, oil and garum — a fermented fish sauce — was wrecked during a stopover in Mallorca, The Guardian tells.
The merchant ship, probably anchored in the Bay of Palma on its way from southwestern Spain to Italy, was quickly swallowed up by the waves and buried in the sands of the shallow seabed.
Until last month, its miraculously preserved treasures remained intact despite being just a few meters under the stomachs of countless tourists who swim along one of the busiest beaches in the Balearic Islands.
Now, however, the ship, known as the wreck of the Ses Fontanelles, is revealing its archaeological, historical and gastronomic secrets. During a restoration operation supervised by the Council of Management of the island of Mallorca, with the participation of experts from three Spanish universities in the Balearic Islands, in Barcelona and Cadiz, about 300 amphoras were recovered, as well as other objects that provide an invaluable insight into the Mediterranean of the fourth century AD and everyday life. people of the distant past.
In addition to earthenware jars, on which painted inscriptions are still preserved, archaeologists have found a leather shoe, a rope shoe, a saucepan, an oil lamp, and a Roman carpentry drill. — the fourth found in this region.
A boat 12 meters long and 5 to 6 meters wide appeared before people’s eyes three years ago after a summer storm stirred up the waters of the bay. His appearance confirmed unconfirmed reports by divers dating back to the 1950s and prompted authorities to take action. A team of archaeologists and maritime experts was assembled to implement the three-year Arqueomallornauta project.
“The goal is to preserve everything that is there and all the information contained in it, and this cannot be done in one emergency intervention,” says Jaume Cardell, head of the department of archeology of the Mallorca government council. — This is where the Arqueomallornauta project comes into play: it is about restoring and preserving both the wreck and its historic cargo. This is not limited to Mallorca; there are very few wrecks with such an unusual cargo in the entire western Mediterranean.
While a team of experts is now looking at how best to recover the hull of the sunken ship, which is just 50 meters from the beach, those who delivered the cargo in the operation, which took place from November 2021 to mid-February, are still a little breathless from the excitement before unusual finds.
Nobody on the team expected the sands of the bay to do such an impressive job of isolating the debris from oxygen and preserving its organic materials. “Things are so perfectly preserved that we found pieces of fabric and leather shoes,” says Dr. Miguel Angel Cau, an archaeologist from the University of Barcelona. — The most amazing thing about the boat is how well it has been preserved – even the hull wood … This is a tree that you can knock on – as if it were yesterday.
The team that determined the ship had sailed from Spain’s Cartagena region by analyzing minerals in the clay of the amphorae says the find’s significance cannot be overestimated.
“Very few ancient boats are as well preserved as this one,” says Dr. Dario Bernal-Casasola, an archaeologist at the University of Cadiz. — There are no complete Roman boats in Spain. It is incredibly difficult – almost impossible – to find complete amphoras with inscriptions, as well as the remains of their contents. The state of conservation here is simply amazing. And you have it all in just 2 meters of water where millions of people have swum.”
According to Enrique Garcia Riaza, a historian at the University of the Balearic Islands, the wreck highlights the commercial and strategic importance of the Balearic archipelago during Roman times.
“The islands were not cut off – on the contrary, they were the main transit point on the routes from the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula,” says the historian. — In Roman times, the cities of the Balearic archipelago were inhabited by a political elite who were also very well connected with the main Roman cities of the Mediterranean coast, such as Cartagena and Tarragona.
The team of scientists found no trace of the boat’s crew other than their belongings, suggesting they may have made it to shore or been swept away from the wreck by the waves. However, what they left behind is intriguing.
Dr. Miguel Angel Cau points to an oil lamp with an obviously pagan symbol of the moon goddess Diana and to Christian signs on the seals of some amphorae. “The crew members were probably pagans, but some of the goods they were carrying have Christian symbols,” he says. — One should be careful in interpreting the find – this weight could be from church authority – but you have this coexistence between pagans and Christians. This may tell us a little about the daily life of the crew. They might say, “Look, I’m a sailor and I believe in what I believe, but if you want me to carry a Christian cargo, I’ll do it if there’s good money.”
“It’s one of those finds where you just laugh all the time because you can’t believe it,” says Dr. Kau. — This is something that happens only once in an academic life. We’ll never find anything like it again, and that’s what makes this find so special.”