A 2,000-year old shipwreck is enough to get anyone with the love of a good mystery excited; when it’s reported to be almost perfectly preserved in the soft mud below the waters of Italy, it’s enough to make one practically foam at the mouth. As a Goonie for life, this story fascinated me.

That’s what divers are saying they’ve found in the sea waters near Varazze after fisherman kept reporting they were finding bits of pottery in their nets. After an investigation, they discovered the wreckage along with hundreds of pots half-buried at the bottom of the sea, some still sealed and containing oils, wine, grain, and fish. It’s believed that the ship was on a trade route between Italy and Spain, and while the pots aren’t exactly pirate’s booty, they are indeed a treasure for those who made the discovery.

“The peculiarity of this is that the wreck could be almost intact,” Lt Col Francesco Schilardi of the police divers’ group said. “We believe it dates to sometime between the 1st Century BC and the 1st Century AD.”

Because the task of raising the ship would be extremely expensive and complicated, there are no immediate plans to do so. However, divers have been bringing up the intact pieces of pottery for examination, an exciting and rare find for historians.