Archaeologists searching Portugal's coast have found a 400-year-old shipwreck believed to have sunk near Lisbon after returning from India laden with spices, specialists said on Monday.
"From a heritage perspective, this is the discovery of the decade," project director Jorge Freire said. "In Portugal, this is the most important find of all time."
In and around the shipwreck, 40 feet (12 metres) below the surface, divers found spices, nine bronze cannons engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms, Chinese ceramics and cowry shells, a type of currency used to trade slaves during the colonial era.