At Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, archaeologists have discovered a ship with more than 1,000 ceramic objects and very well-preserved swords dating from 20 to 50 AD. To avoid looting, the spectacular find was initially kept secret.

The moment of discovery was particularly impressive for underwater archaeologists. Diving in Lake Neuchâtel, Fabien Langenegger and Julien Pfyffer made a spectacular discovery from the Roman Empire.

“At first, we both cautiously approached this pile of circles, which may have been a warehouse of mines left from the Second World War. But when I turned on the camera light, the characteristic color of terracotta stood out. Looking at some broken tiles, we realized that this the discovery was extraordinary.”

However, objects belonging to the equipment of the legionnaires were found – namely two gladiator swords, a dagger, a belt buckle and a fibula. According to the team of archaeologists, these suggest that legionnaires were accompanying the ship. Given the amount of artefacts found, the cargo may have been intended for a legion of about 6,000 men.

A reed basket was also discovered, which, according to the archaeologists, “is wonderfully preserved in the chalk of the lake and contains a group of six ceramic objects that differ in their manufacture from the rest of the cargo”. The research team hypothesizes that these are the less processed dishes and food of the sailors, i.e. the sailors of the ship.

“We have taken out of the water all the objects – just over 1000 – that were in danger of being damaged by anchors or nets or stolen by robbers. These objects are now in the cleaning phase and are being processed by the restoration team on land. Once this phase is completed, the restorers can discuss with the archaeologists that that they have observed and what we completely miss during the excavation phase, since very often we are in the middle of a cloud of sediments”, explains Julien Pfyffer.

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Source: prizrenpost