A newly discovered shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea probably will confirm that it is a site for a large sea battle between the arising Roman Empire and the declining empire of Carthage.

The sea battle was an event during the first Punic War where Rome and Carthage fought for dominance in the Mediterranean. The sea battle became a very important event and was the Roman fleet was able to almost crush the Carthaginians.

The new find of wreckage was done in the summer of 2010 near the island of Levanzo just west of Sicily. The written documents place the sea battle at the same location where the wreckage now has been found.

But it was not a whole ship that was found but the bronze ram of a warship. The bronze ram functioned as a extended part of the ship’s bow and had a sharp point in the end. It was used to slam into the enemy ship and this kind of tactic was often used during naval battles at this time. All the wood has rotted away and there has never been found a complete warship found. But the ram reveals some information about the ship as well how the timbers was placed, how big they were as well as how they were fitted together.

There have been findings of two rams at almost the same site also dated to the end of the first Punic War. The new ram is believed to have been of Carthaginian origin. Before the war the Romans already had a fleet established. But the ram show some signs of being quite quickly made which points that it belongs to Carthage. The written sources mentions that Carthage needed to put a fleet together very quickly when the war started.

Information found at http://www.livescience.com/history/ancient-shipwreck-possibly-identify-battle-site-101018.html where you also can read more about this exciting find.

Responsible for the survey and investigation of the site is RPM Nautical Foundation which you can visit here: http://rpmnautical.org/index.html