Divers off of the coast of Antikythera, a tiny Greek island lying on the edge of the Aegean Sea, have recently uncovered a treasure trove of artifacts. The relics come from an ancient Greek shipwreck that the famous Antikythera mechanism was once recovered from.
Now scientists from Greece, Australia and the United States are working together to unravel another piece of Greek history. Thus far, marine archaeologists have recovered more than 50 items, including the remains of a bone flute, glassware and ceramics, a bronze armrest, a pawn from a board game, and part of what scientists believe to be a throne.
According to Dr. Brendan Foley, the co-Director of the project, “This shipwreck is far from exhausted. Every single dive on it delivers fabulous finds, and reveals how the ‘1 percent’ lived in the time of Caesar.”
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ANTIKYTHERA SHIPWRECK
The famous ship, circa 65 B.C., was first discovered by sponge divers in 1990. During that time, the fishermen were able to retrieve dozens of luxury items, fragments of sculptures and statues, as well as the remains of the ship’s passengers and crew members. Perhaps the most famous artifact, however, is the Antikythera Mechanism, which is considered by many to be the first computer in the world. It is designed to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendrical and astrological purposes.
Foley and his team are part of a long-term research program and on-going scientific excavation of the wreck, first launched in 2014. To aid in the excavation process, scientists utilized an autonomous robotic mapping technique that created 3D virtual reconstructions of the artifacts. By utilizing the same technology, scientists expect to continue to uncover ancient artifacts and relics that are currently buried in the seafloor. In the meantime, scientific analyses are being carried out on the existing artifacts, which may assist researchers in recreating the history of the ship and in turn, the history of Ancient Greece.
“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,” states Dr. Theotokis Theodoulou, a diving archaeologist.
