Latest Finds

Divers near Kekova Island, off Antalya, found the remains of a Bronze Age trading ship about 100 feet down, marked by more than 30 scattered amphorae and three large stone anchors. Based on the amphorae's style, Hakan Öniz of Akdeniz University dates the wreck to roughly 4,400–4,700 years ago, which would make it the oldest shipwreck yet known. None of the wooden hull survived. A Macquarie University team is analyzing residue inside the jars, which may have held olive oil, wine, or tree resin.

A salvage crew working with 1715 Fleet–Queens Jewels LLC recovered more than 200 silver cob coins over a couple of days of diving off Florida's east coast, at the wreck sites of Spain's 1715 Treasure Fleet. A hurricane sank the fleet with treasure estimated at 14 million pesos aboard. The attribution comes from the divers and the salvage company, and no independent authentication has been reported. Estimated value of the new coins: not stated.

Over 21 years of searching Margam Beach in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, a metal detectorist recovered nearly 870 gold and silver coins tied to the Ann Francis, a ship lost in a storm on December 28, 1583. The coins include gold pieces from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and a Portuguese gold São Vicente. The detectorist also found utensils, a boatswain's whistle, and a brass combination lock. The collection is on display at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, part of Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales), which says contemporary records back the identification. The beach is now a protected site, and searching there is no longer legal. Estimated value: not stated; the museum believes only about a quarter of the money aboard has been recovered.

Mariusz Stepien, the detectorist behind the 2020 Peebles Hoard, has found a second Late Bronze Age hoard about seven miles from the first. A strong signal led him to lift stones one at a time, and archaeologists then uncovered a stone cairn at the spot. The Blyth Hoard includes two bronze axe-heads, clay moulds that may have cast fittings found in the Peebles Hoard, and a complete copper ingot believed to be the first of its kind found in Scotland, dated to roughly 1150–800 B.C. It was reported to Scotland’s Treasure Trove Unit, and National Museums Scotland is conserving and studying it. Estimated value: not yet assessed (the Peebles Hoard was valued at £80,000).

A rescue excavation at Tiversky Gorodok, a fortified site on the Vuoksi River in the Leningrad region, recovered a silver hoard weighing more than 2 kg. The joint team from the Kunstkamera museum and St. Petersburg’s Actual Archaeology center found medallions, a large neck ring, coin pendants, silver wire chains, and a Karelian-style head ornament. Three coins were also found: an Arabic dirham provisionally dated 907–912 and two Swedish Uppsala-type bracteates from the late 11th to early 12th century. Researchers think most pieces came from medieval Rus’ or Scandinavia. The findings are preliminary, and some objects are still being conserved.

An amateur detectorist working a field near Wesseling, south of Cologne, turned up about 15 Roman silver denarii, realized he’d hit something big, and called in archaeologists. The full hoard came to 934 coins weighing about 3.1 kg, minted over more than 270 years, from 148 B.C. to the reign of Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 124/125). X-rays showed traces of a ceramic pot and straw packing, so the hoard was deliberately stored and never recovered. The Rhineland Regional Authority (LVR) confirmed it as the largest collection of Hadrian-era coins ever found in Germany. Estimated value: about six years of a Roman legionary’s disposable income.

Underwater excavations off Adrasan, near Antalya, have recovered thousands of ceramic pieces in 122 different shapes from a wreck 42–55 meters down, dated to around the mid-1st century B.C. The pieces include plates, bowls, fish plates, nut dishes, and trays. Archaeologists believe the ship was carrying luxury tableware from ancient Rhosus (modern Arsuz) toward Rome when a storm sank it. Aegean amphorae were also recovered. Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister announced the finds from the ongoing ministry-backed excavation, which uses underwater robots.

A late-September nor’easter stripped sand from Miacomet Beach on Nantucket and uncovered wooden wreckage. It may be the Warren Sawyer, a schooner that ran aground there in December 1884 carrying cotton and scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston. The Egan Maritime Institute is inspecting the site and reporting to Massachusetts state underwater archaeologists. The wreck’s identity has not been confirmed.

A University of Warsaw team made 22 dives over 12 days on a clinker-built wooden wreck first spotted in 2023 during a gas pipeline survey. Tree-ring dating puts its timber between 1626 and 1639. Divers recovered shoe soles, a leather strap, pulley blocks, an anchor, rope, barrel staves, carpentry tools, and part of a likely bilge pump, which points to an onboard repair workshop. The pipeline was rerouted around the site, which is now protected with sandbags. The ship’s name and the cause of its sinking are still undetermined.

Archaeologists from France’s national preventive archaeology institute (INRAP) excavated three buried amphorae in Senon, northeastern France. Two were intact and held an estimated 40,000-plus Roman coins, about 88 kg in all. The third had been emptied in antiquity. The coins were buried between A.D. 280 and 310. The jars sat in purpose-built pits with their openings level with the floor, which suggests an accessible savings store rather than an emergency stash.

Divers with Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions recovered a 55-pound copper ingot from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, the Spanish galleon that sank in 1622, roughly 35 miles west of Key West. The find follows an earlier-summer silver bar recovery from the same wreck, and the crew reports identifying 19 additional high-value targets nearby. Estimated value: $18,000–$25,000.

Divers from Andalusia’s Institute of Historical Heritage began a two-week survey of a 39-meter wooden-hulled wreck in about 20 feet of water off Cabopino beach near Marbella. Researchers believe it may be the Italian brig-barque Gagliano or Garegliano, lost in 1887, based on recovered French roof and floor tiles bearing Marseille manufacturer marks — but the identification remains unconfirmed pending the survey’s results.

A homeowner in Rebild municipality, Denmark, unearthed roughly 700 silver objects — including bars, jewelry, coin fragments, and a Thor’s hammer pendant — while digging out space for a garden terrace. North Jutland Museums confirmed it as the largest Viking Age silver hoard ever recorded in Denmark, dating to around the 10th century, and it has been submitted to the National Museum of Denmark for further assessment.

Polish divers from the Baltictech diving group located a virtually intact 19th-century sailboat roughly 60 meters deep in the Baltic Sea, about 20 nautical miles northwest of Sweden’s Öland island, carrying more than 100 champagne bottles and around 100 sealed mineral water bottles. Labels date the cargo to 1850–1867, but the wreck’s exact sinking date, ownership, and value remain unconfirmed pending investigation by Swedish authorities and maritime archaeologists.

Archaeologists working in the historic center of Kolomna, Russia, uncovered a buried ceramic jug containing roughly 2,600 silver “dengi” coins minted under rulers of the Grand Principality of Moscow between about 1389 and the 1420s. The find includes rare bird-motif coin designs and over 350 previously unknown local coin varieties, and has been confirmed by the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Two metal detectorists found three solid gold Bronze Age torcs worth an estimated $400,000 near Carlisle, England. The find is now with the British Museum for official treasure assessment.

Renovation workers in Dendermonde, Belgium found roughly 40 gold bars and 4,000 coins hidden behind a cellar wall. Estimates of the hoard’s value have varied across outlets (from £7.5M to $10M/€9M) — ownership and authenticity are still under investigation.

Greece’s Ministry of Culture confirmed a Classical-era shipwreck off the island of Andros, carrying more than 600 amphorae.

A 2,100-year-old Roman shipwreck loaded with amphorae has been officially confirmed off the coast of Sicily, after a diver spotted it on his boat’s sonar and reported it immediately.