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Archaic wreck found in the waters of Santa Maria del Focallo

Scarpinato: «Evidence of trade between Greece and Sicily».

Archaic wreck found in the waters of Santa Maria del Focallo

A wreck dating back to the 6th-5th century BC, together with four stone anchors and two iron ones, was found in the waters of Santa Maria del Focallo, in the Municipality of Ispica, in the Ragusa area. The discovery occurred during an underwater excavation campaign conducted by the Superintendency of the Sea of ​​the Sicilian Region, in collaboration with the Department of Humanistic Studies and Cultural Heritage of the University of Udine. The wreck was located in six meters deep, buried by sand and boulders.

The hull was built with the “on shell” technique, characterized by the use of planks connected by joints (tenons and mortises), which gave the structure a self-supporting function. A few meters from the shipwreck, two anchor cores: two in iron of the inverted “T” type, probably dating back to the 7th century AD, and four lithics, probably prehistoric era.

Ritrovato relitto arcaico nelle acque di Santa Maria del Focallo

«This discovery – comments the Councillor for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, Francesco Paolo Scarpinato – represents an extraordinary contribution to the knowledge of the maritime history of Sicily and the Mediterranean and highlights once again the central role of the Island in the traffic and cultural exchanges of antiquity. The wreck, dating back to a crucial period for the transition between archaic and classical Greece, is a precious piece of the submerged Sicilian cultural heritage».

The excavation campaign – lasted three weeks and concluded last September – saw the involvement of the Messina Coast Guard Diving Unit and the Port Authority of Pozzallo, which guaranteed technical and logistical support for the operations. Thanks to the underwater photogrammetry, it was possible to generate a three-dimensional model of the wreck, while the samples taken will allow further paleobotanical analyses to further investigate the materials used.

This research activity was conducted within the framework of the “Kaukana Project“, in its fifth excavation campaign carried out as an integrated approach for the valorization of our submerged cultural heritage. The project, born in 2017, continues with the aim of reconstructing the coastal and submerged landscape along the coast between Ispica, Kaukana and Kamarina, in collaboration with the University of Udine and with prestigious Italian and international research institutions.

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