Fragile ‘underwater museum’ of ancient shipwrecks discovered beneath busy sea corridor

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Over 100 historic shipwrecks have been uncovered at a strategic maritime gateway — and researchers warn they may be at risk of fading away.

The vessels were found on the seafloor of the Bay of Gibraltar, part of the narrow waterway linking the Atlantic Ocean andthe Mediterranean Sea, by researchers with Project Herakles.

The project, a joint venture between Spain’s University of Cádiz and the University of Granada, has been underway for six years.

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Researchers have identified 150 underwaterarchaeological sites— the majority of which are shipwrecks, according to The Guardian.

The wrecks span centuries, from as early as the 5th century B.C.toWorld War II-eravessels.

Split image of ruined site, coins on seabed, divers standing near water

A major research effort has uncovered dozens of shipwrecks in a key maritime corridor linking the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.(Felipe Cerezo Andreo;Project Herakles)

The vessels include 23 Roman ships, four medieval ships, and the engine and propeller of a plane from the 1930s, according to The Guardian.

The findings were “not a chance discovery,” said Felipe Cerezo Andreo, a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Cádiz — and the discovery took years in the making.

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�s research has dramatically expanded what was previously known about the area.

“Before starting Project Herakles in 2019, only four underwater sites were known in the area;today we have information on more than 150 documented sites in just three years of work,” he said.

Project Herakles researchers used advanced marine scanning technology and historical records to locate and map the underwater sites.(Felipe Cerezo Andreo)

“They can now be studied, protected and shared.”

Researchers combinedhistorical researchwith advanced technology to locate, map and study the wrecks.

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“We began by analyzinghistorical archives, museumsand interviewing the local community of fishermen and divers, who know the seabed better than anyone,” Andreo recalled.

Archaeologists then used advanced marine scanning technology to map the seafloor and locate buried shipwrecks, including magnetometers to “detect metallic anomalies.”

Diver documenting site underwater with sand visible

The shipwrecks range in age from the 5th century B.C.to vessels used during World War II.(Project Herakles)

Andreo said most of the recorded shipwrecks are from the 18th to 20th centuries — but older Phoenician, Punic and Roman vessels are alsoburied in the sands.

“The bay was a very important space in antiquity,” he said.“We have evidence of settlements such as Carteia and Iulia Traducta that used these waters as their main port.”

Phoenician, Punic, and Roman wrecksthat tell the maritime history of both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.”

The scale of the findings suggests the area holds a continuous record of maritime history, he said.

“A large portion of these 150 sites are at significant risk of deterioration.”

“This tells us we are not dealing with isolated shipwrecks, but rather a submerged historical archive that has recorded every commercial andmilitary movementsince antiquity,” said Andreo.

“The bay has functioned as a funnel of global history, and this is reflected in a seabed that preserves archaeological evidence.”