Marine archaeologists using high-resolution sonar and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have located the wreckage of a 2nd-century BCE Carthaginian warship near the Aegates Islands off the coast of Sicily. The vessel lies at a depth of 130 meters and is uniquely preserved due to the low-oxygen environment, with large sections of its cedar-wood hull still visible above the seabed.
The most significant find from the site is an array of three massive bronze battering rams, or rostra, still attached to the prow. These rams are inscribed with Punic prayers to the god Melqart, providing a rare linguistic link to the naval tactics used by Carthage against the Roman Republic. Archaeologists believe the ship was part of a lost fleet that participated in the final stages of the First Punic War.