STRATON PROJECT

In the summer of 2018, during a standard tourist dive at the Mandre site, a group of divers led by Vedran Dorušić found the lead stock of an ancient anchor bearing an inscription. It was later ascertained that the inscription on one part of the anchor stock reads STRATON, while the letters ◦T◦S are on another part. After making negative and positive casts, we established that it reads OFIDI◦T◦S. Less than a month after the discovery, a group of divers, again led by Vedran, followed the standard route to the southeast and, due to poor weather, began diving to the northwest. At a depth of slightly more than 30 meters, after more than 2,000 years of sleep, a group of experienced divers found a large pile of amphorae.

Although the name of the location where the amphorae were found is Letavica (after the nearby promontory), the actual project established to research, protect and promote the site is called the STRATON Project, based on the anchor stock inscription. The STRATON Project’s primary objectives are: