The shipwreck of Mahdia was found off the coast of Tunisia in 1907. It is of late Iron age date (100 BC). It contained lead lingots that, according to their isotope-composition, seem to come from the Sierra de Cartagena in Spain.
Reference
H. Salies et al, (eds.), Das Wrack. Der antike Schiffsfund von Mahdia (Cologne 1994).
Mahdia has an attractive museum exhibiting besides beautiful artefacts such as mosaics, antique and islamic ceramics, monetary treasures from Byzantine period, found in the region of either Bararus
In addition, Mahdia is associated with under water excavations which, carried out off the city, in 1908, 1913 and 1948, delivered an impressive marble and bronze collection of Grecian origin.
The collection is the result of a shipwreck which occurred towards the end of the first century B.C., following an order placed by some well-to-do person of rank from Italy or Africa.
A UK edition of "Sea Fights and Shipwrecks - True Tales of the Seven Seas" was published by the Museum Press Ltd., London (1956), in hardback with a dust jacket.
This book is mostly about the shipwreck, and subsequent investigation into the sinking, of the British troopship, "Birkenhead", which sank in 1852 off the coast of South Africa.
This lavishly illustrated coffee table book is about the discovery and exploration of three wrecks: the "Mahdia" wreck which sank off North Africa 2000 years ago with a rich cargo from the sacking of Athens by Sulla; the "Agamemmon", Admiral Horatio Nelson's first ship of the line; and the Nazi battleship, "Graf Spee".
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