Specialist underwater researcher Mariusz Milka has found a human bone by an ancient shipwreck off the island of Vis, a rare artefact that could be thousands of years old.
Part of the team behind research team Seamagination, and previously interviewed by Time Out Croatia, Milka has spent the last five years based on Vis.
Before Croatia’s tourism boom, Vis was off-limits to visitors and has no industry, so the waters around it are clear. Previously known as Issa, it was once occupied by Ancient Greeks and Romans, making it a happy hunting ground for those in search of rare finds.
One dive site is around an ancient shipwreck by the islet of Krava. While this spot has long been popular, the activity of red mullet fish, leaving a hole around hard surfaces when looking for food, led Milka to his most recent find of a human bone.
By chance, his underwater photographer on this dive was Filip Mikołajczak, a doctor and orthopaedic specialist, who identified it as being a human radius bone, part of the forearm.
Milka’s colleague, underwater archaeologist Tea Katunarić based at the University of Split, is currently conducting the research into its origins.
For Milka’s other ancient discoveries around Vis, see here.