Download Pdf of Dissertation - Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M ...

[May 15, 1915]. English Translation.
ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOPRITEDEZA
OF CALABRIA
(Provinces of Rhegium, Catanzaro and Consentia)
TEMPORARY BRACH OF SYRACUSE
. 2052
SUBJECT: Croton – Discoveries of marble at Punta Scifo
His Excellency Secretary Public Instruction
General Direction Fine Arts Bureau
Rome
Syracuse, May 15, 1915
The Forcellini Company, undertaking the large enterprise of the works at the Harbor of
Croton, while with its powerful dredges was looking for underwater boulders in the water
of Punta Scifo, began raising ancient marbles; a natural curiosity, along with the hope of
finding artworks, kept the lucky work going for a couple of days, while the local
authorities and this Soprintendenza were reaching the site. And there [?] as soon as alerted
by the [S.?] Prefecture of Croton of the discoveries that took place, I sent by telegraph my
decision to stop the work at the end of that same day, that was the second from the original
date of the discovery.
All told, the Forcellini Company, with its powerful gear, raised the remarkable
quantity of ca. 150 tons of marbles, that were left on the docks of its yard in the harbor of
Croton, after carrying them from ca. 12 km of distance.
I still lack too many data to write even a concise scientific report, but after all I can
assure Your Excellency that we are dealing with that deposit of underwater marbles
coming from the shipwreck of a Roman merchantman which I have already described, as
much as it was possible, in Supplem. Notizie 1910, page 118 and following.
At that time the Tricoli Company raised with its limited means a few, but
remarkable items, that the current discoveries have increased almost tenfold; they all are
marbles roughly worked out, decorative, or totally unfinished; no sculptures are present.
Columns, great arae, large and small basins (labra), bases and different pedestals, big slabs,
and also some prismatic blocks just rough-hewn, the largest of which (ca. m. 3.80 x 2 1/4 x
0.84) has a huge weight, around 30 tons. Many of these marble items are marked with a
lead seal shaped like a little ansate plate, and many bear long and even extremely long
Roman quarry inscriptions, similar to those I already published. I made desperate attempts
to get the impressions of these [modifiloli?], but for the time being the results are far from
being satisfactory. My desire to get apographs or at least perfect impressions gets frustrated
by insurmountable difficulties; the action of salted water and marine life has sometimes
abraded and eroded the written surface, which is characterized by letters carved not too
297