In 2009, archaeologists discovered an underwater graveyard of five Roman shipwrecks off the coast of Ventotene, a small Italian island with a notorious past. It was one of the biggest archaeological finds in recent history. The vessels’ well-preserved cargo indicates that these ships did not break up on the island’s rocks, but instead sank to the seabed intact and upright. They were laden with exotic goods including wine, olive oil, and the ancient delicacy garum; a condiment highly prized among ancient Romans. These sunken treasures are providing researchers with insight into the wreck, how the Romans lived, and Ventotene’s intriguing past.
The island served as a vacation resort for Rome’s emperor but it became a kind of ancient Alcatraz when the Emperor Augustus imprisoned his own daughter, Julia, there for adultery, or as more recent research suggests, for political intrigue against her father.
This past summer, a team of explorers returned to the site to recover some of the ancient artifacts in hopes of shedding new light on these mysteries. THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead tracks their efforts in the premiere of Lost Ships of Rome, airing nationally Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). Actor Liev Schreiber (Salt and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) narrates.
Preview this episode:
Granted only five days access to the site, the experts accompanied by a special branch of the Italian army – the Carabinieri – embarked on a series of dangerous deep-sea diving expeditions that break new ground in marine archaeology. Because of the extreme depth of the sites, every minute was vital to the safety of the divers. It was a race against time to retrieve the antiquities.
Spearheaded by archaeologist Timmy Gambin, the team of explorers include diver Roberto Rinaldi, captain Aaron Podesta, Craig Mullen, Eric Mullen, among others. Classicist Annelise Freisenbruch is also featured in the film, recounting Julia’s tragic story while local Ventotene historian Salvatore Schiano provides insight on the island’s ancient architectural feats.
Intertwining current investigation with historical records, Lost Ships of Rome presents evidence to show Ventotene was once a strategic maritime hub that anchored the Roman trading empire. Augustus radically transformed this remote barren island into his personal seaside resort and a thriving port community. Engineering marvels constructed 2000 years ago include a system of underground aqueducts that harvested rainwater and an impressive man-made harbor, hand-carved from the seawalls.
Until now, the drowned cargo has laid undisturbed for two millennia. Among the archaeological treasures retrieved by Gambin’s team are cooking utensils and amphorae, common containers used to carry wines and foodstuff. This humble piece of pottery with a peculiar pointy base, dates back to the first century B.C. For Gambin, it holds valuable clues about the shipwrecks. Its impractical pointy base was actually a design feature that allowed the jugs to be stacked and to also serve as the ship’s ballast. Ironically, the amphora played a critical role in destabilizing the ship. Gambin believes some of the vessels were hit by heavy waves while en route to the imperial provinces in France and Spain. As a result, the ships’ cargo shifted, the vessels capsized and sank to the seabed completely intact.
While no one knows exactly what happened to the shipwrecked sailors, the story of Princess Julia is taking on a new interpretation. Historians now believe Julia did not commit adultery but may have been engaged in a risky political conspiracy against her father which landed her in solitary confinement on Ventotene.
The team ended their five-day journey with a taste of ancient Rome when the crew’s cook adapted an ancient recipe to make a modern-day version of garum. Despite its rancid pungency, the garum tasted surprisingly pleasing to his shipmates.
THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead: Lost Ships of Rome is a Windfall Films production for THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG and National Geographic Channel. Robert Hartel is Producer/Director. Ian Duncan is Executive Producer for Windfall Films. Jared Lipworth is Executive Producer. William R. Grant is Executive Producer of Secrets of the Dead.
We would like to know what the bluish cylinders were.. Can you tell us?? Made of zinc? Lead? Carrying what? Thank you.
I would like to get the recipe for the garum from the crew chef.
I saw this report in PBS , where you mention that from Augustus time to today the Mediterranean already rose 3 feet.
Is that true? Was that already the global Warming?
I would also like to get the recipe for the garum from the crew chef.
Jose Ferreira
I’m very disapointed with this site, I wanted to see the chart of Amporae shapes I could really learn from it. I also hoped to see the layout of the harbor from above & below before & after the ancient excavation.So we could contemplate more deeply the science, the tools used to construct the harbor. Layout of the wrecks on the bottom in relation to each other & the harbor would be lots of fun to dream on. You aren’t serving those of us who are just teased by the new archeology on this show, help us get started! Several of us already have mentioned the metal scroll teaser. The recipe for garon was on the Naked Archeologist earlier this week.
Did this expedition return to this site to solve the mystery of the contents of the cylinders on the last wreck they dived on? It would be interesting to see the tools used by the Romans to take out all of that rock.
Maybe some of the shows should be an hour long. Very interesting information. We will need to study more Roman history. Thank you for presenting these programs.
I’m with Brenda, She said it all.
The idiot that thinks they finished the harbor opening under water has obviously never worked under water. Try striking a chisel with a hammer hard enough to scratch stone, while holding your breath. Not happening. These people were well known for making artificial ports into the bay. I would sooner believe they build a temporary dam beyond the work zone, much as it would be done today.
Daniel is probably right. Roman engineers were certainly capable of that kind of work. I agree that this site, which is, unhappily sometimes typical of PBS sites where they promise all kinds of further information (on the broadcast) but you don’t get any more.
So what went wrong with the rainwater collection system, that they’re not using it any longer, and instead ship drinking water by boat to the island ?
I, for one more “idiot”, am wondering how one could’ve built a dam where it drops deep in the water, perhaps intelligent Daniel can tell us more ?
Did you notice that there were no large piles of excavated stone anywhere in the view of the port. This means it was either used for something else (say a temporary dam) or taken away (eventually). My point is that they were very good at moving large amounts of material. scuba diving… not so much. They only needed to be beyond the work area by a couple of feet not way out where it was deep. If you also noticed the fact that they did this in the one spot on the island that gently sloped to the sea. Why would they do that? Because it allowed them to dam a shallower work area. If you were going to remove the last bit of stone as they say they did, the steeper cliff scenario would have made for significantly less under water work and not require you to haul the material away as it would fall to deeper water. Again. next time you are at the beach, try diving down just 10′ and hit a chisel with a hammer.
Pardon my engineering background, but why do we have to believe a chisel must only be about a foot long. Certainly a very long chisel used from a fixed bridge would even supply more force than being underwater and additionally a hammer could have been used. That’s how I would have done it.
The Romans were very experienced with pikes, so a long chisel would have been fairly obvious.
The garum that was created is like the fish sauce made in the Philippines. And just like the Romans, Filipinos use it in cooking to enhance flavor. You also can coat a bowl of rice with it and eat that rice as is, no meat or fish required.
The opening to the ventotene port was mentioned in the series. The crew believes divers hammered away at the rocks underneath the water. This sounds very difficult due to the need to come up for air but also the reduced speed at which a hammer can be swung in a fluid such as water.
Could chisels mounted on the end of great long poles been used instead. In this way the divers would only need to go underwater to clear away ruble. Hammering could proceed for much longer and hammers could be swung with greater force? This theory greatly depends on the depth at which the channel is, of course.
You have no problem giving us the advertisement but then won’t deliver the slow. If no show, don’t let the ad run either.
I, for one, am very disappointed with Brenda’s poor grasp of proper spelling, bad grammar, and run on sentences.
No,… seriously,…. are you not going to tell us about the metal objects? You know,… the most interesting thing brought up by this program?…… You know,… the objects that have not previously been discovered….. Seems like if I were investigating this, that would be priority numero uno,….. that’s lame PBS,… totally lame.
When are we going to see the follow up on the last ship to be seen without the cargo being able to brought to the surface? And why are the so called freshwater system not being used today? Come on PBS, wake up!!!
[...] others multi-dazzle with freshness before the coffee was even served. By 7:45, I felt like those Roman shipwreck salvagers at 380-ft below sea level. The pressure was all around [...]
[...] was watching Secrets of the Dead on PBS one night last week—an episode called Lost Ships of Rome. It was about archaeologists investigating five Roman shipwrecks deep in the waters off the Italian [...]
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