Maritime Archaeology
2021 Battle of the Egadi Islands Field Season Press Release: Two bronze warship rams and military equipment were discovered at the site of the Battle of the Egadi Islands (241 BC), the pivotal battle that led to the victory of Rome over Carthage during the First Punic War. In addition to the new discoveries, four …
2021 Battle of the Egadi Islands Field Season Press ReleaseRead More
The Egadi Sea Returns Priceless Treasures On July 24th, 2019, the RPM Nautical Foundation crew with the assistance of several Global Underwater Explorer (GUE) divers, recovered two ancient rams from the Battle of the Egadi Islands site. Two Montefortino bronze helmets were also made public for the first time. We were pleased to be joined by …
Battle of the Egadi Islands Project in Italian NewsRead More
Highlights from the start of the 2019 field season! Follow us on board R/V Hercules as we go from Malta to Albania to Sicily.
RPM Nautical Foundation was proud to co-host a dockside reception in Durres, Albania on June 14th 2019 with Mr. Auron Tare, Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. The guests, which included the ambassadors to Albania of Spain, Croatia, Italy, Japan, and Russia, …
Race to Save Med’s Last Great Treasure Unexplored for decades, Albania’s waters are filled with artefacts. Efforts are under way to chart them before looters descend By Louise Callaghan, published in The Sunday Times, London, 1 July 2018 DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE TO READ MORE
Inside the daring mission to rescue ancient artefacts from the bottom of the sea Rogue treasure hunters are attempting to track down and gather lost items from the sea floor. But they aren’t the only ones: the RPM Nautical Foundation is using remote vehicles, sonar and digital mapping to get to the archaeological sites first …
This project update in the INA Quarterly, published by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, describes RPM Nautical Foundation’s first large-scale coastal survey of Albania in 2007. Focuses include: areas surveyed, wrecksites discovered, and one particular site and its archaeological finds, as well as the potential for future field seasons in the Albania coast. DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE TO …
The fourth season of the Fournoi Underwater Survey has been completed, a collaboration between the Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and RPM Nautical Foundation. From 7-29 September, the project continued to survey, document, and study the ancient, medieval, and post-medieval shipwrecks of the Fournoi archipelago in the eastern Aegean Sea. During the season five new wrecks …
LLAZAR SEMINI, ASSOCIATED PRESS July 4, 2018 TIRANA, Albania — Hundreds of Roman and Greek artifacts and ancient shipwrecks sitting under Albania’s barely explored coastline are in danger of falling prey to looters or treasure hunters if not properly protected, researchers and archaeologists warn. James Goold, chairman of the Florida-based RPM Nautical Foundation, said the objects …
Archaeologists urge Albania to protect underwater heritageRead More
Embargoed until 13 July 2017 Eight new shipwrecks discovered in Greece’s Fourni archipelago, total of 53 shipwrecks A joint Greek-American expedition to the Fourni archipelago found eight new shipwrecks, bringing the total number of shipwrecks in the small archipelago to fifty-three. The Fourni Underwater Survey is one of the most exciting projects currently in archaeology. …
Eight new shipwrecks discovered in Fourni archipelagoRead More
When I was asked to write an article for this issue about the use of technology in archaeology, I began to think about the myriad of systems utilized in field work each season. Between the research vessel, guidance and steering systems, the ROVs remote sensing equipment, array of video feeds, data processing systems, display graphics, …
Biology of Archaeology Ecological Communities & Submerged Cultural Sites All life on the Earth is intimately connected to the ocean. The vast expanse of the world’s ocean is the single largest ecosystem on the planet, encompassing dynamic habitats such as tropical coral reefs, temperate kelp forests, and deep sea thermal vents. Throughout our storied history, …
