AN EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY!
On July 1, 1999, during a periodic check on excavation being done on the tunnel in the harbour at Olbia, archaeologists from the Monuments and Fine Arts Service made a sensational discovery: they found, imbedded in the mud, not only an incredible number of objects belonging to a vast time span, but eight hulls of Roman wrecks and five medieval ones.
A study of the area and these finds have facilitated the highly-probable reconstruction of a large part of that history that saw Olbia involved in extremely important events unsettling the whole Mediterranean area.
On top of a first layer more than five metres below the roadway, an infinity of articles (material dropped during loading and unloading, foodstuffs that spoiled during the voyage and were thrown overboard, trash, material brought by torrential rains) tell the story of an important port having direct or indirect commercial links with the whole Mediterranean, from the Middle East to Gibraltar, from Provence to Egypt, from Greece to North Africa. Among the finds, some perfectly intact and finely-wrought, are oil-lamps, plates, small jugs and coins.
