Going for a sail and a swim with the kids and snorkeling gear.
As one starts looking at the seabed around here it is very common to find fragments of terracotta vases. Most are small and don't carry much of a recognisable shape. They are what is left of Roman amphorae that went down as the boat that transported them hit the coast.
Olbia, the closest town to here, was an important and rich Roman settlement, at the heart of the trade routes in the Mediterranean . As of such many sailing and rowing boats were navigating these waters hundreds of years ago. The lee shores of the predominant winds , mistral (NW) and scirocco (SE) still carry traces of this traffic in the form of these amphorae fragments.
I have always found it special to pick up these objects for inspection before putting them back where I found them. The last person handling them was probably a mariner setting up the cargo hold of the vessel he was assigned to, about two thousand years ago....
No comments:
Post a Comment