Cover StoryReadeRsdigest.co.in 55to invest in ships that could
cross oceans. However, they
did sail as far as India. Perhaps
some untrained navigator lost
his way in a storm. Or maybe
mutineers steered the ship
westward?
We may never know, nor are we
likely to uncover more evidence.
Brazil closed the Bay of Jars to
further research in 1983 in an effort
to deter looters, it said. Marx claims
the government didn’t want the area
explored because finding Roman-
era artifacts there would mean that,
contrary to Brazil’s official history,
the Portuguese were not the first
Euro peans to reach the country. And
the truth? It’s resting 100 feet under
the sea.tennis courts located 24 kilometres
from shore lay the remains of some
200 Roman ceramic jars, a few fully in-
tact. According to Marx, a professional
treasure hunter, the jars appeared to
be twin-handled amphorae that were
used to transport goods such as grains
and wine in the third century. But how
did they get there? The first Euro peans
didn’t reach Brazil until 1500.
The Romans, who traded primar-
ily in Mediterranean port cities and
the Middle East, had little incentiveAfter hearing rumours of a
sort of sunken treasure in
Brazil’s Guanabara Bay (1),
Robert Marx, using a
sonargraph (2), made
an unusual find: a cache
of ancient pottery (3).
Actually, they were Roman
amphorae, or pots (4), from
the third century. That
raised a thorny question:
Did the Romans cross the
Atlantic (5) 1,000 years
before the Portuguese
landed in Brazil?The Bay of Jars
courtesy gps nautical charts (map). courtesy mit museum/©2010 mit (2) (marx). maglido photography/shutterstock (water)