Roman ship for gourmands

last updated 8 January 2015

Alicante, Spain

A 2,000-year-old Roman ship that sank off the coast of Spain was carrying tons of fish sauce, a rare and expensive delicacy in Roman times, archaeologists said this week. The 100-foot wooden ship, discovered in 2000, was holding about 1,500 amphoras—foot-tall, double-handled clay jugs—that still bear traces of fish bones, although the actual sauce had leaked out. Well-preserved, accessible Roman shipwrecks are quite rare, though scientists were equally excited about the unusual payload. When word of the find first spread in 2000, pirate scuba divers raided the site and stole some of the amphoras. In response, the government built a metal grating to cover the remains and protect the jars.