COLLECTIONS

Underwater Archaeology Collection

The collection's holdings include ceramic, glass, metal, bone, stone, wood, and leather artefacts dating from prehistory to the modern period.

Request access to materials Contacts

Information:

dr. sc. Ida Koncani Uhač

Department:

Archaeology Department

Tableware and amphorae from layers of a submerged Roman era port

Fažana, Cape Mede, 1st–2nd century CE

Cup

Pula, Flacius Street, 2nd century CE

Cup

Pula, Flacius Street, late 1st-2nd century CE

Pitcher

Pula, Flacius Street, 1st century CE

Wooden box

Pula, Flacius Street, late 1st century CE

Wooden comb

Pula, Flacius Street, 1st-5th century CE

Wooden pulleys

Pula, Flacius Street, 1st-4th century CE

Components of sail rigging

Pula, Flacius Street, 1st-4th century CE

The AMI Underwater Archaeology Collection was established in 2015 with the aim of investigating, protecting, and valorising underwater archaeological sites around Istria.

Underwater investigation in Istria dates back to 1963 when the remains of a 1st century BCE shipwreck with a cargo of wine amphorae were investigated near Cape Savudrija on the initiative of archaeologist and Archaeological Museum of Istria curator Štefan Mlakar.

With the development of autonomous diving, military and civilian divers began to gather around Mlakar from the mid-1960s, participating in organised surveys of the seabed off Istria. Although Mlakar himself was not a diver, he was in charge of underwater surveys aimed at identifying archaeological finds and data on underwater sites in Istria. These surveys were carried out through to the mid-1970s, followed by an extended hiatus in activities.

AMI revived its activities in this domain in 2007, performing rescue excavation of a submerged Roman era villa near Pomer. In 2011, it began a multi-year international collaboration with the universities of Salento and Trieste to investigate the Roman port in Savudrija, one of the most important ports of the period in the northern Adriatic. It also investigated prehistoric sites in Zambratija Cove, including Eneolithic pile dwellings, a project which the University of Bern joined in 2023, and a Bronze Age sewn boat—the oldest vessel made using the sewing technique in the Mediterranean. A long-standing collaboration with the French Centre Camille Jullian (CNRS) has resulted in both the investigation and the recovery of the Zambratija boat, and prior to that, two Roman period sewn boats found in Pula. The discovery of ancient sewn boats testifies to the highly developed technological level of shipbuilding in and around Istria, and thus the importance of seafaring, which points to the significance of navigation along the northern Adriatic coast.

AMI is also active in the systematic investigation on the Roman salt pan site in Bijeca Cove near Medulin, currently the only confirmed such site on the Istrian coast, and at many other underwater sites.

Successful cooperation with clubs and associations of the Istra County Diving Federation contributes to the investigation, preservation, and promotion of underwater archaeological heritage.