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Thanks to a second short, yet detailed report Orsi published in 1921, and to the
original records available for examination in the archives of Reggio Calabria’s
Archaeological Museum, a good deal of information is available to reconstruct the
number and types of artifacts raised from the seafloor in 1915. The site was said to be
located 200 m offshore, estimated to have an area of ca. 50 m x 50 m, at a depth of 6-7
m. 71 It is also mentioned that 2-3 m of sand still covered the underwater material. 72
In only four days of work, most of the Punta Scifo A shipwreck’s original
assemblage was either removed or severely disturbed. Mr. Forcellini calculated that
about 150 tons of marble were brought to the surface, along with “numerous wooden
remains pertaining to a vessel” and amphora sherds Paolo Orsi identified as Roman. 73
Considering that the Isola delle Correnti shipwreck, the largest navis lapidaria found to
date in the Mediterranean, was carrying approximately 350 tons of marble, the weight of
the recovered material gives a good idea of the extensive spoliation that took place in
May 1915. 74
Comparing the archival documents to Orsi’s publications, it is possible to
conclude that between 1908 and 1915 no less than 52 marble items were raised and
deposited in the harbor of Croton: 8 almost finished labra, 10 pedestals each decorated
with four lions’ paws, 6 statue bases, 15 column shafts, 10 marble blocks, an unspecified
number of which had lead seals “in the shape of an ansate little plate,” and an intact
71 Orsi 1921, 493.
72 Original report May 15, 1915, 1.
73 Orsi 1921, 493-6. For the marble tonnage, see Orsi 1921, 496 and the original record dated May 15,
1915.
74 For Isola delle Correnti, see see Kapitän 1971, 296-8. A dive on Punta Scifo A’s remains during the
2005 INA expedition revealed that only four marble blocks, one column shaft, two thin slabs, and some
tiny fragments of white marble are still visible on the seafloor. The 2006-2006 catalog of the items
recovered makes it possible to estimate that approximately 200 tons of marble were carried aboard.
Therefore, it is now known that the Forcellinis raised to the surface most of this cargo.
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