More Treasures Fished Out From 'Titanic Of The Ancient World'
The famous Antikythera shipwreck in Greece is thought to be among "the biggest underwater archaeological explorations in the world", according to New Scientist. This "Titanic of the Ancient World," as it is called, has unearthed precious artifacts.
The $1.8 million project was led by Theotokis Theodoulou and Dimitris Kourkoumelis from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and Brendan Foley from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts that ran from Aug. 26 to Sept. 16.
"The shipwreck is far from exhausted," Foley said. "Every single dive on it delivers fabulous finds, and reveals how the '1 percent' lived in the time of Caesar."
Over 50 artifacts have been discovered by hunters diving in and retrieving "an intact amphora, a glass figure from a board game, a wine jug, a lead salvage ring, a stone structure that was probably the base of a small statue, portions of a bone flute and a bronze armrest that could have been part of a throne" according to HNGN. Another important discovery included some parts of the ship's hull.
Dating back to 65 B.C, the shipwreck was found in 1900 off the southwestern Aegean island of Antikythera by sponge fishermen. They could fish out 36 marble statues of Greek mythology gods, bronze scuptures, along with a "life-size figure of an athlete" as well as other luxury items.
A geared mechanical device called the Antikythera Mechanism, the world's first ever computer, was the most famous. It was accurately used to predict solar and lunar eclipses as well as the movements of the planets in the solar system.
The divers spent 40 hours inside the shipwreck this year. There were 10 members, with four archaeologists who investigated the site with a "multi-dimensional map" that covered 10,500 square meters of the area.
"There's obviously stuff down there. We just weren't digging deep enough before," said archaeologist Gemma Smith.
"We were very lucky this year, as we excavated many finds within their context, which gave us the opportunity to take full advantage of all the archaeological information they could provide," Theodoulou said, according to HNGN.
