As Morski writes on the 18th of January, 2020 FOKA d.o.o. and the owner of that company Vedran Dorušić, as the person who discovered an extremely valuable and significant underwater archaeological site on the island of Pag, more precisely the remains of an ancient Roman shipwreck from the 1st century AD, will take great pride in presenting Pag and the Letavica underwater site at the nautical fair in Düsseldorf (Boot Düsseldorf, from the 18th to the 26th of January, 2020) as part of the promotion of Croatian tourism for 2020.
The island of Pag is not only recognised by both Croatian and foreign visitors as an excellent destination for family and active holidays, but also as a site that abounds in archaeological sites from various periods of time, among which sites from ancient times stand out. One such site is a recently discovered submarine archaeological site – Letavica.
The Letavica site lies at a depth of 37 to 39 metres, at the boundary of the rocky and sandy slope of the seafbed, at a distance of about 130 metres from the coast. It regards a group of about 400 visible amphorae that are typologically classified into the group Lamboglia 2, and can be divided into several variants. Judging by the basic characteristics of the form, the amphorae can be dated to the 1st century BC, the time of the Roman Republic. The amphorae are mostly covered with marine vegetation and coalesce, with only a small fraction having escaped from the main concentration of the findings.
At a distance of about 38 metres to the northeast, there is a lead piece of an ancient lead-wood anchor, 1.6 metres in length, which probably belonged to the same ship. In the immediate vicinity of the part of the anchor lies the bottom of a larger ceramic vessel, the details on which currently remain unknown,” said Vedran Dorušić.
”We discovered the Letavica site on July the 27th, 2018, during a regular dive. We changed our plans because there weren’t any obstacles to that – so we went deeper. This is the only ancient shipwreck up to a depth of 40 metres that you can dive to without needing to be protected by a metal cage – so the diving experience is far more powerful,” says Dorušić, revealing that there are about 400 visible Lamboglia 2 amphorae on this amazing site alone.
The location of the findings on the seabed indicates that it was not cargo that fell from the ship’s deck during the accident, but sank to the seabed with the entire ship.
The length of the main concentration of amphorae is about 23-24 metres and indicates a ship length of 25-30 metres.
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