LiveWire

Some of the objects date back to the fourth century, while others are from the first and second century. Amazing!

Via Israel National News.

Two divers found an ancient treasure lurking in the harbor at Caesarea National Park, and after they informed the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) they returned with archaeologists to dive down and recover the ancient statues and coins from the depths.

The find, which is the largest assemblage of marine artifacts to be recovered in the last thirty years, was made by divers Ran Feinstein and Ofer Ra’anan of Ra’anana. They will be awarded a certificate of appreciation and a tour of the storerooms of the national treasures for reporting the discovery.

Feinstein and Ra’anan went diving in the ancient port of Caesarea before Passover, where they found the ancient marine cargo of a merchant ship that sank during the Late Roman period 1,600 years ago.

The two immediately contacted IAA and reported what they had found. IAA archaeologists joined them as they returned to the underwater site, where the ship’s iron anchors and remains of its wooden anchors could be seen….

The artifacts, which were in an extraordinary state of preservation, included a bronze lamp depicting the image of the Roman sun god Sol, a figurine of the moon goddess Luna, a lamp in the image of the head of an African slave, fragments of three life-size bronze cast statues, objects fashioned in the shape of animals such as a whale, a bronze faucet in the form of a wild boar with a swan on its head, and more….

A highly unique find was also discovered among the items – two metallic lumps composed of thousands of coins weighing around 20 kilograms (over 44 pounds). The lumps of coins were in the shape of the pottery vessels they were transported in.

The coins bear the image of emperor Constantine who ruled the Western Roman Empire (312-324 CE), and was later termed Constantine the Great, ruler of the Roman Empire (324-337 CE). Other coins feature the likeness of Licinius, an emperor who ruled the eastern part of the Roman Empire and was Constantine’s rival until he fell in a battle between the two Roman rulers….

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