For centuries, an unidentified disc-shaped object recovered off the Florida coast was presumed to be a 17th-century cauldron.

Now, it appears that experts may have finally discovered its true nature.

Could this artifact be a 17th-century diving bell, ingeniously employed in the perilous quest to salvage treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon?

The mysterious copper object was originally discovered off the Florida coast in 1980 near a wrecked Spanish treasure galleon and was believed to have been a cauldron for making fish stew at sea.

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But now, two researchers have suggested the copper dome represents the remains of a primitive 17th-century diving bell that was used by treasure hunters .

If this object isn’t a cauldron, it could potentially be part of an early diving bell, making it one of the earliest known examples of a diving apparatus ever found.

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