Treasure trove of artefacts recovered from the site of the first ever ancient naval battle to be discovered

Remnants found from Battle of Egadi Islands - last clash of first Punic War

Pitted the Romans against their arch-enemies the Carthagnians and propelled the Romans to Europe-wide domination

11 bronze battering rams used by ships to pummel each other have been fished from Sicilian coast, along with bronze helmets and armour

A prceless horde of artefacts has been recovered from the site of the first ancient naval battle ever discovered.

The find - including helmets, weapons and ancient bronze battle rams - has been rescued from the seabed off the Sicilian coast where they had lain undisturbed for more than 2,000 years.

They are the remnants of The Battle of the Egadi Islands - the last clash from the first Punic War - which pitted the Romans against their enemies the Carthagnians and propelled the Romans to Europe-wide domination.

Turn back time: Researchers study a rusted helmet that was discovered in the depths of the sea

It looks a little battered! The remnants of a battering ram were amongst the horde of artefacts found

A tablewear jug (left) and amphora-bottle (right) were rescued from the seabed off the Sicilian coast where they had laid for more than 2,000 years

Experts say the finds - which were scattered over some five kilometres and submerged beneath up to 100 metres of sea - represent the first ancient naval battle site ever discovered.

British archaeologists hailed the find a 'major discovery' and are now leading the efforts to survey every inch of the nautical battlefield.

Jon Henderson, an underwater archaeologist at the University of Nottingham, has been using cutting edge technology aboard a ship aptly titled Hercules to survey the battlefield.

He said: 'There has never been an ancient whole battle site discovered before, which is quite surprising when you consider how important sea power is in the Mediterranean.

'It is a major discovery. This is the first major naval battle between the Romans and the Carthagnians. Because the Romans won they were set on the road to Empire and control of the Mediterranean.

'The historical significance is huge, but what is so important is that we are finding battle sites because of changes in underwater technology.

'We are at the cusp of an exciting range of new discoveries.'



The finds, including this anchor, were scattered over some five kilometres and submerged beneath up to 100 metres of sea

British archaeologists hailed the find a 'major discovery' and are now leading the efforts to comb the seabed for more

On March 10th, 241BC, the two ancient heavyweights clashed in a huge naval battle off the coast of Sicily.

The two powers had been warring for more than 20 years, as the Romans battled for a foothold in the all-important Mediterranean sea.

While the Carthagnians were much more powerful on the water, the cunning Romans lay in wait trapping the Carthaginians and blocking off their sea route in a sudden victorious attack.

Up to 50 Carthagnian ships were sunk in the bloody attack, killing up to 10,000 men. Around 70 more ships were captured along with their crews, while the rest fled.

A project to find the lost battlefield was set up 10 years ago by the Soprintendenza del Mare in Italy and RPM Nautical Foundation.

But underwater mapping of the battlefield has just begun.

The project has already uncovered some prized artefacts.

So far some 11 bronze battering rams used by ships to pummel each other have been fished out of the water, along with bronze helmets and armour.



Dr Jon Henderson has been using cutting edge technology aboard a ship to survey the ancient battlefield

So far researchers aboard the ship have found some 11 bronze battering rams used by ships to pummel each other have been fished out of the water, along with bronze helmets and armour

HOW THE ROMANS SAILED TO VICTORY IN THE BATTLE OF THE EGADI ISLANDS

The Battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC was a naval battle fought between the fleets of Carthage and the Roman Republic during the First Punic War. It was a victory for the Romans that would lead to their domination in the years to come.

Rome lacked a fleet — the ships it had possessed had been destroyed in a previous battle.

Yet their enemies, the Carthaginian forces, did little to capitalise on this, allowing Rome to restore its strength and build a new stronger fleet.

When the Carthaganians heard about this, they prepared their fleet for battle, and sailed to the Aegates Islands.

The Romans sailed out to meet them - but not before stripping their vessels of sails and masts to give them an advantage in rough sea conditions,

By ramming into their enemy's ships and destroying half of the fleet, the Romans won a decisive victory. It was the last battle in the First Punic War, which had raged for 20 years as the two powers fought for supremacy over the western Mediterranean Sea.



Dr Henderson said: 'Prior to this project just three bronze rams were known to exist in the whole Mediterranean, and now we have 11, so it is a major change in terms of the amount of physical information we now have about this battle.

'Some scholars had thought that ships were no longer ramming each other and that the rams were just for show.

'But we have found bits of the enemy ships in some of the rams so it's very likely they were ramming each other.'

Experts plan to cast the rams and use them to reconstruct what the ancient ships would look like.

Archaeologists had spent years scouring the shallow waters off the island of Levanzo, just west of Sicily, searching for the infamous battlefield.

But they only finally discovered the site after hearing stories told by old Sicilian divers that ancient lead anchors were lying on the seabed, off the Egadi Islands.

Professor of pre-history and Soprintendenza del Mare, Professor Tusa said: 'The stories these divers told led me to speculate where this battle might have taken place.

'To prove my hypothesis I carried out a series of dives and discovered 50 anchors. Local fishermen brought up a bronze helmet from the same area and together with the discovery of the first ram my hypothesis became theory.'

The area is so rich in archaeological finds that experts believe it could take decades to fully survey and analyse the data from this site.

The artefacts are now being analysed at the University of Nottingham.

Dr Henderson said: 'For the first time archaeologists have recovered finds in context from the site of an ancient naval battle.

'We can now begin to say something about the fittings and equipment present on ancient warships and indeed what would have been taken into battle.

'It's exciting because we now have archaeological data to add to interpretations which were wholly based on iconographic representations and the ancient literary accounts.'