The exceptional discovery describes a wide chronological area ranging from the IX century before Christ to the V AD: it is therefore a harbour that was used for a very wide period of time and which was probably very important even though, and this is a peculiar thing, no traces can be found of it in any historical document.

"When the State Railway Company casually discovered the Pisa harbour - Prof. Giorgio Belluomini, of Rome's Cnr "Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali", the author of this dating, explains - there was a great interest the world over.

The number of boats found has suggested an intense traffic and now, owing to Radiocarbon analysis, we know that the Pisa harbour - of which we have yet to discover its access to the sea - has represented an essential point of reference for over 12 centuries, from the Etruscan period to the Roman age.

As a Punic ship, an Hellenistic one and the many of the Roman period that were found bear witness to".

Giorgio Belluomini and Salvatore Improta have undertaken the chronological study of the linear structures of a bridge, a palisade and some of the 16 boats found till now.

14 findings were analysed: of these, 9 come from an area of the excavation called "Southern Expansion", the most ancient part of the harbour, possibly the wet dock and the others from an area of the harbour in front of it.