Archaeology can be a very exciting field. Unfortunately to some people it is also a very boring one, because it requires slow and painstaking work that can drag on for many years, before the final object is able to be viewed or visited. For those of you that are of an impatient nature the discovery of a complete harbor under the train station at San Rossore, in Pisa, Italy, may not mean much. It is however one of the most significant finds in the long history of archaeology in Italy and believe me, that is really saying something. One has to remember that this country is home to some of the most incredible archaeological finds in the history of man. You really can't say that this dig is speeding along since it has been going on for almost a decade already .It is thought that it will not actually be finished, because there is just not enough money available to excavate the entire site. We are talking about an extremely large area. It is odd to imagine what is actually in this area, since it was so unlikely that we would find things there.

So far the site has turned up 39 ancient shipwrecks. The reason that the shipwrecks are still preserved, is the fact that they were buried under the silt, which acted to preserve the ships. Usually when you find a preserved ship wreck, you just find pieces of wood and such. These finds are different, quite different. The original copper nails are still in place, some ships have the cargo still sealed in jars and spooky as it sounds, members of the crew are still on board, their skeletons being trapped under parts of the ship. I guess for all you paranormal types out there, this might be a good place to investigate. .One of the things that makes this site unique is that all of the ships are not from the same time period. The ships seem to date back as far as the sixth century B.C., but those are the oldest ones that have been found so far. It is believed that around this time a canal connected to the port of Pisa. It is thought that violent storms drove some of the ships into the harbor and sunk them. So far it is estimated that the ships range in age from the six century B.C. to the fourth century A.D.

Much has been learned from studying these old shipwrecks. One of the things that archaeologists were hard pressed to understand, was the role that the Etruscans played in all this and exactly how did they fit into the scheme of things? This question might not have been able to be answered if all the ships were from the same time, but since they span approximately 900 to 1000 years, the archaeologists can see how trading progressed over that period of time. One of the things that they learned was that the mysterious Etruscans where active traders in this part of the world. This really wasn't known before the ships were discovered. I believe that it was suspected, but there really wasn't much evidence. Some of the older ships that were found were Greek and Phoenician. It could also be seen that the ships traveled from one port to another trading along the way. Some of the stuff that was in the ships really wasn't much different than things we use today. For example, some ships carried house wares such as cutlery and crock ware. In other words we are talking about knives and forks, spoons, pots jars, etc. It also seemed that there were different levels of the stuff. There was the cheaper everyday stuff and then there was the signed pieces that went for much more money and were probably destined for richer households.

You can still see the names on a couple of the ships. Apparently they were carved into the wood. One ship contained the Greek word for seagull. Another ship was named the Chiatta. This ship capsized in a storm and lays upside down and because of this, the whole upper works of the ship are preserved. This is one of the few examples of an ancient mast still in existence. The discovery of the ships was strictly accidental. This happened when the train company was doing some work. Unfortunately for the passengers on this train line, the ships lie underneath some of the tracks and there will certainly be disruptions ahead. It is not going to be easy to dig these boats out. It is not a matter of just removing them from the earth, because if we did this, they would just fall apart. It turns out that the oxygen that we need to live on this planet, is also one of the worst enemies of buried artifacts. Another problem that the diggers face is the fact that the water table is very high in the area and they have to pump the water out first, before they can remove the ancient objects.

It is kind of cool the way the ancient boats are being prepared. Asphalt is put over the boats that have not been removed yet and their outline is painted on the asphalt. Different colors of paint are used to paint this outline, depending on the age of the ship. Only a couple of ships have been able to be removed so far, they are soaked in a special solution to prevent the oxygen from destroying the wreck. When they treat one of these boats, they do it by small sections and it can take quite a while. The boats are then sent to wood restores who have experience with this sort of thing. It takes several years of soaking before the wood is stable enough so that the boat can be put on display. In China an under water museum is being built where a ship wreck can actually be observed at the bottom of the harbor. The Chinese have stated that the ship contains a treasure and some of it has been left on board. I guess this is one way to view a wreck without having to worry about restoring it. I don't know what the cost of restoration is, but I do know the cost of the museum in Japan is said to be several million dollars

The Italians realize that some of the ships will not be ready for display when they are. They have devised an ingenious method to solve this problem. Some of the ships will be left in the curing solution, in a sort of tub, but one side of the tub will be clear glass which will enable visitors to the museum to still be able to view the ship. We are actually talking about 2015 here. Obviously this means that many ships will not be ready, but even by then others will still be in the ground. It is a shame that the Italian government cannot afford to extract all of the ships. Wouldn't it be nice, since they have so many ships, if they donated several to the big museums around the world, so that others might enjoy seeing these wrecks? I can't recall any other find that involves ancient ships, where so many were found in one place. It is just amazing to me that so many of the ships would just be piling up in this area.