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Sicily Region Gives the Green Light to Recovery of the Wreck of the Greek Ship “Gela II”

The operations carried out and directed by the Superintendence of the Sea of ​​the Sicilian Region have begun, to recover from the sea the wreck of the Greek ship of Gela, dating back to the 1990th century BC, submerged in the seabed, near the port of Gela. The wreck "Gela II" was identified in XNUMX by a local diver, who delivered some ceramic fragments to the Superintendence of Caltanissetta.

Sicily Region Gives the Green Light to Recovery of the Wreck of the Greek Ship “Gela II”

The recovery operations of the Greek-era wreck begin, dating back to the 5th century BC., found in the seabed of the Bulala district, in near the port of Gela.

The excavation and recovery project of the wreck “Gela II”, made and directed by the Superintendency of the Sea of the Sicilian Region, will be carried out by the grouping of companies Atlantis of Monreale (Palermo) and Cosiam of Gela (Caltanissetta), which is the works are awarded for an amount of approximately 500 thousand euros under the Pact for the South 2014-2020. Il estimated time for carrying out the works is 270 days.

«In recent decades, the sea of ​​Gela has returned extremely important traces of the past, which contribute to the reconstruction of its history - says the regional councillor for cultural heritage and Sicilian identity, Francesco Paolo Scarpinato – The recovery of this second wreck is a further opportunity for the Gela area to continue the process of cultural and tourist development that this part of Sicily deserves. The two Greek ships and the numerous finds recovered in recent years will be able to constitute a cultural attraction linked to the underwater archaeology that Gela has been waiting for too many years and that will allow the scientific needs to be combined with the cultural ones".

Thanks to a fruitful collaboration between the Superintendency of the Sea, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage of Caltanissetta and the Archaeological Park of Gela, Sara it is possible to carry out the initial conservative treatment activities, consolidation and definitive restoration in the rooms specially set up in the museum which hhosted the exhibition on the wreck last year “Gela I”, inside the Bosco Littorio.

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Il relitto “Gela II” it was spotted about a kilometer from the first wreck “Gela I” by a local diver way back in 1990; he delivered the same some ceramic fragments, identified a few meters deep among a pile of stones (which will turn out to be the ballast of the vessel), to the Superintendency of Caltanissetta.

In 1995 a first underwater survey was carried out systematic identified the presence of wooden finds pertaining to the hull on the seabed e numerous ceramic finds were recovered of the load which allowed the age of the wreck to be dated.

In subsequent years, Numerous finds have been recovered from the seabed of Gela, such as Corinthian helmets, identified in the Bulala district, oi numerous orichalcum ingots (ancient alloy of copper and zinc, similar to brass), currently on display at the Archaeological Museum of Gela, as well as many amphorae and anchors belonging to the wrecks sunk in the body of water in front of Bulala, a few meters deep.

The operations, competence of the Superintendency of the Sea as contracting authority will take place with the collaboration of the Port Authority of Gela and Eni Rewind; the director of the works is Roberto La Rocca, while the the sole person responsible for the procedure is Pietro Selvaggio.La Regione Sicilia dal il via al recupero al relitto della nave greca di "Gela II"

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