A Maritime Pompeii

We as humans have done great things, that need not be forgotten. These things need to serve as inspiration to us all to better ourselves in our future. But we as humans have also done terible things that must also be remembered, in order to prevent them from happening again. One can not move forward with ones future, in less one knows and understands there past.

There are so many things that can be learned from history, but unfortunately we never learned. So may be it is better to stop digging and spend the money on the betterment of our future.

It is strange that people are very interested in the past these days and not interested in the future. It reminds me of an extinct tribe of Indians who rode on their horses seated facing backwards because they were more interested in where they had been than where they where going. The present is a mess and we are headed for a disaster in the future if we do not change our values, priorities and direction. We are headed for world war three which will kill most of humanity and put us back in the dark ages. We need to start planning for the future while we still have that possibility.

The problem that many Italians encounter in situations like this may not be lack of funding, but archaeological fatigue. Hugh areas of the country could be nothing but hugh archaeological digs,and the Italians are charged with trying to run a modern society when anytime you try to expand a plant, build a road, modernize a rail line, even dig a basement, you could be shut down indefinitely due to a major archaeological find.

Fascinating discovery, fascinating series of comments. What a wild cross section of life both in the mud and in the comments. The challenge with both is separating the mud from the items of real interest and substance. And there is sooooo much stinking mud!

This is an amazing, astounding discovery that deserves widespread recognition and support to allow proper excavation and preservation. We need to work together to find a way to share the objects and information that will be revealed as work progresses.

I believe someone commented earlier that our past can help guide our future. How true! A find of this magnitude, containing so many diverse cultures over a nearly 1,000 year span is an archeologists' dream. To ask the public to contribute a small fee to assist the recovery as they share in this valuable find is hardly unreasonable. How else do you think it will be paid for?

If you have any imagination or curiosity at all, these 39 ships, their crew and cargo can provide years of fascinating study. I can't wait for the stories and the pictures of this discovery to be published and for the museum they deserve to be built. I'll take my family there any day!

(To answer the question regarding respecting the dead: we respect those who have gone before us by learning from what they experienced and opening our minds to what their lives have to teach us. Leaving them buried in the mud and paving over them hardly seems respectful.)

Great news about this find! Its so important to know about the past, even better to have in hand these documented items's. Mother Earth has given us a precious gift. The exact Time piece's of mankind travel's of the moment of utmost historical value. My hope is they will continue with the dig and raise funds to preserve those fragile materials. The struggle is educating the people to convince them of the needed support.
Keep up the good work!!!

Great news about this find! Its so important to know about the past, even better to have in hand these documented items's. Mother Earth has given us a precious gift. The exact Time piece's of mankind travel's of the moment of utmost historical value. My hope is they will continue with the dig and raise funds to preserve those fragile materials. The struggle is educating the people to convince them of the needed support.
Keep up the good work!!!

Complimento to all those involved in the proyect. As a Historian and History teacher at Universidad de Lima in Per??, I am specially interested in Economic History, a field that is enriched with the Pisa discoveries. Being Rome's economic and trade history one of my favorite subjects of research I would like to get any extra information regarding the details of the discoveries.

Eduardo Dargent

I truly find it amazing that people from all over the world can discuss this archaeological discovery in real time. I am not a grammar nut, obviously from my last post, my only pet peeve is when journalists and experts do not spell archaeology/archaeologists correctly. Thank you for letting us know about the devestating floods on the arno river. I will have to examine the geography of Italy more carefully before I begin my unit on Rome with my students. We always talk about the benefits of geography, not always realizing the devestating affects climate and weather can have on a region. I just learned that a severe drought in Tennessee has caused a town to shut off water, except for 3 hours a day. We don't pay much concern to the ramifications until it hits home.

Discovering things from the past is so fascinating. What wouldn't I give to see or discover something like that. It's amazing.

what a amazing find!
why are you people dicussing completly irrelevant topics on a artical like this. its archeology, not polotics this artical is talking about.

I was born near Pisa and I am very happy to read about these ships. Probably they were destroyed not only by Tsunami but even by the frequent devastasting floods of the Arno river (thirty years ago there was a big one that inundated Florence and partially Pisa). Sincerely I hope that can be found a ship from the first Etruscan times, that can give us a precise indication about the origin of the Etruscans.Brunodam

what a amazing find!
why are people even dicussing irrelivant topics on a artical like this? are you honestly picking a internet fight? or debate? this is crazy!

the recent discovery is a clear indication that the world of history is beginning to generate much interest in todays society. Archeological discoveries in modern day society indicates that the concept of history is no longer an obscure term confined to the past. it is very much alive!

I am from from a city near Pisa. The ships probably were buried by one of the frequent floods of the Arno river (thirty years ago Florence and Pisa were inundated by one, even if now there are many modern technical protections). Of course, even the possibility of some Tsunami must be taken in consideration. In my personal opinion different ships in different years were destroyed by "both" the natural disasters. Brunodam

As a social studies teacher for 6th graders, I am shocked that adults can not discuss an archaeological find that rivals Egyptian mummies found in recent years. This gives us great insight into our past in which our children can learn something from. I can't wait to tell my students about this discovery, but would hate to show them the posting that are so irrelevant to this amazing find. Instead of discussing the conncections the ancient Etruscans and Romand had with so many other civilizations and the technology of their boats, you guys are talking about Religion and Evolution vs. creationism. We can learn so much from the array of boats discovered from so many time periods. It is a time line of events unfolding before our eyes. Please stick with the subject. My students and I find archaeology a key to understanding the past and our future. Please do not dissappoint them. :)

Not for nothing but.........Heaven help that anyone would wish to learn something new.It is near painful to persuade anyone to pick up a book and read it.Dig on I say,dig on.They can leave for work a little earlier or call a taxi.