Explorers Discover Ancient Shipwrecks in Mediterranean Waters.

An international team of scientists discovered three historical shipwrecks during an underwater archaeological expedition last year in the Mediterranean Sea. The expedition also gathered high-resolution images of three Roman wrecks initially discovered by oceanographer Robert Ballard and archaeologist Anna Marguerite McCann in the 1980s to 2000s. The wrecks were located along a heavily traveled route in the Mediterranean, the Skerki Bank in the Strait of Sicily, which has caused shipwrecks for more than 3,000 years. The team used remotely operated underwater vehicles to collect images and video of the wrecks and their artifacts, including amphoras, ceramics, building materials, jugs, pots, and lamps. The areas around the wrecks will now be protected under UNESCO’s 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.