As the sun sank over a vast opencast coal mine in eastern Serbia earlier this month, a small crane eased the front half of a Roman ship from the steep sides of the pit.
An excavator cutting through the coal-rich soil had pulled out some muddy timber weeks before, but coronavirus restrictions had meant the retrieval had had to wait.
The ship was part of Viminacium, a sprawling Roman city of 45 000 people with a hippodrome, fortifications, a forum, palace, temples, amphitheatre, aqueducts, baths and workshops.