Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Italian divers have found a 2,100-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily, with hundreds of ancient clay jars known as amphorae, likely used to carry wine.

The shipwreck was found off the coast of Mazara del Vallo, at the northeast corner of Sicily.

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli called it, "one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years."

Underwater fisherman and free diver Giacomo De Mola said he was out on the water with his friend Igor Bisulli. Their boat sonar showed something that looked like a rock, and on a hunch, he dove to investigate. When he came back up, he told Bisulli, "You can't imagine what's down there."

"Visibility wasn't great. I saw a large, dark mass and thought: "Just another big rock," he said in a video posted on Instagram.

"I moved closer. And my heart stopped. It wasn't a rock," he said. "Beneath me lay an immense expanse of amphorae. Hundreds of amphorae that had rested on the seabed for over 2,000 years. A Roman ship slumbering in the silence of the Mediterranean."

He and Bisulli immediately reported the find to the Sicilian Region's Superintendency of the Sea.

"It is hard to describe the feeling of being among the first humans in nearly 20 centuries to see that place again," De Mola said.

Divers from the Palermo police cultural heritage protection unit found the ship, which is believed to date to the first or second century B.C. about 150 feet deep.

The ship is reported to be about 70 feet long and 20 feet wide. It was mostly carrying Dressel 1A amphorae, which are long and cylindrical with a pointed bottom, and mainly used for hauling wine. They also found two lead anchor stocks and another structure believed to also be made of lead.

The cultural ministry said that "research will continue with further documentation and study to reconstruct the shipwreck's archaeological context and ensure its preservation."

De Mola said he's still surprised by the wreck.

"A veritable underwater museum now thrives among the amphorae: forkbeards, moray eels, dusky groupers and a wealth of marine life," De Mola said. "The sea never ceases to surprise us. This time, we found more than just a shipwreck. We found a piece of our history."