Roman era statue encrusted with marine life sat on seabed for years — until now

Miami Herald

2 days ago

For centuries, a Roman era statue fragment lay on the ocean floor off Italy, camouflaged by marine encrustations. But now, the ancient artifact has finally been brought to light.
Archaeologists at the University of Salento found the statue segment in the Port of Leuca, located in Puglia, the southeastern tip of the Italian peninsula.
After identifying the overgrown artifact during an underwater photogrammetric survey, a team of divers was dispatched to recover it, according to a June 25 university news release.
Video footage shows four divers loading the object — which blends in with the rest of the seafloor — into a basket and using a balloon to float it to the surface. The Coast Guard then transported it to the mainland, where it was sent to be desalinated and cleaned.
The piece, made from bronze, measures 41 by 25 inches. It is believed to represent the front portion of a larger-than-life male torso. Smaller fragments, thought to depict portions of the statue's clothing, were also found.
It's not clear yet whether the newfound torso belongs to a recovered statue or whether it was part of a hitherto unknown piece of art.
It's also not a rare find for the region.
The area where the fragment was discovered is littered with other ancient bronze scraps, known to the scientific community since 1992. Pieces of other statues, some of huge proportions, have previously been found there and are preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Brindisi, located several miles away.
The discovery provides further evidence for the importance of marine trade routes that cut through the Adriatic Sea in the Roman era, about 2,000 years ago. The bronze scraps were likely transported to be melted down and cast into new forms.
Recycled material has frequently been found in bronze Roman statues, according to the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
In fact, during antiquity, most statues depicting gods, heroes and politicians were later destroyed or melted down to make tools, such as weapons or even kitchen utensils, according to the University of Maryland.
'Only in rare, catastrophic events, like the eruption of Vesuvius that entombed the city of Pompeii in 79 A.D., were hundreds of these bronze statues ever preserved in one place,' the university stated.
Google Translate was used to translate a news release from the University of Salento.