Ancient Roman shipwreck found with 2,000-year-old containers still intact

An ancient Roman shipwreck has been found off the Italian coast with much of its 2,000-year-old cargo still intact.

Discovery News reports the Roman trading vessel is mostly intact and buried under layers of mud about 200 feet below the surface of the water near Genoa. The vessel sank along the trade route between Spain and Italy carrying 200 jars, called amphorae.

The wreck was discovered after some of the jars were caught in fishermen's nets, Discovery News reports. A remotely operated vehicle was then sent to the seabed to explore and located the ship and the amphorae.

Tests on the amphorae that were recovered showed they contained pickled fish, grain, wine and oil, NBC.com reports.

"There are some broken jars around the wreck, but we believe that most of the amphorae inside the ship are still sealed and food filled," Lt. Col. Francesco Schilardi, who led the police diving team told Discovery News.

Police are protecting the area around the wreck until it can be decided what to do with the archeological find.