Archeologists have found five ships from ROMAN times off of Italy's west coast. First off, I'd like to say - THAT IS SO COOL! How did these things survive 2,000 years under water? I have no idea, not that they're exactly seaworthy right now, but they are recognizable, they've even found various wines and sauces and such that the ships were transporting. The archeologists are speculating that the ships were attacked on their way back to Italy from North Africa, which is really the only explanation for so many ships taken down in one spot.
What amuses me is that because of the same technology that allowed these explorers to find these artifacts, ordinary "treasure hunters" will soon be able to start pillaging the same places. They claim they're on a race against time before normal people start finding these spots with the help of deep sea diving expeditions (very commonly offered to tourists in the middle east). While I am generally a HUGE fan of the "beware the idiots" comments, I have to say, archeologists would have not NEARLY the same wide knowledge of history without idiots. Take the dead sea scrolls. They were found by some kid who was looking after some sheep. He sold it in the nearby market for NOTHING to an archeologist who recognized them and immediately shat his pants. If it wasn't for that Sheppard boy though, those scrolls would still be in some cave.
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