Archaeologists just lately plunged into the Mediterranean Sea to analyze a shipwreck web site that dates again over 2,000 years.
The expedition to the Antikythera shipwreck, which is positioned within the Aegean Sea off of Greece, was introduced in a press launch revealed by the Swiss Faculty of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) on Monday.
Throughout an interview with Fox Information Digital, College of Geneva professor Lorenz E. Baumer mentioned that the Antikythera shipwreck web site is “with none doubt, a novel shipwreck from antiquity.”
The historian defined that the ship sank between 80 and 60 B.C., and described the vessel as “the richest [ancient trade ship] that has ever been found within the Jap Mediterranean.”
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![Split image of fragments and shipwreck site](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/ANTIKYTHERIA-SHIPWRECK-GREECE-4.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Divers just lately made a visit right down to the Antikythera shipwreck, which is positioned within the Aegean Sea off of Greece. (© ESAG / UNIGE)
“It got here from the Jap Mediterranean and had been heading most likely to Rome,” he mentioned. “We are able to study out of it rather a lot about market and sea cargos throughout the 1st century BC.”
The professor additionally famous {that a} second shipwreck was found round 650 ft away, and archaeologists are figuring out if the vessels have been touring collectively. Within the assertion, ESAG officers mentioned divers discovered “hidden treasures” within the type of roughly 300 objects, which included fragments of marble statues.
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![Diver writing down notes underwater](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/ANTIKYTHERIA-SHIPWRECK-GREECE-2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The shipwreck was found in 1900, however continues to be studied. (© ESAG / UNIGE)
“They’ve yielded a wealth of archaeological materials: about 300 objects, together with 21 marble fragments, quite a few fragments, and different structural parts of the ship’s hull and greater than 200 ceramic shards,” the assertion defined. “The marble fragments found counsel the presence of a number of statues, whereas evaluation of the amphorae revealed an abundance of assorted varieties, together with amphorae from Chios and Rhodes.”
The shipwreck web site was initially present in 1900, and quite a few marble statues have been recovered since then. Originally of the twentieth century, a diver named Elias Stadiatis discovered marble statues on the backside of the wreck and was visibly shaken by the sight, stammering about seeing a “heap of useless bare individuals.”
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![Close-up of marble fragments](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/ANTIKYTHERIA-SHIPWRECK-GREECE-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Fragments of marble statues have been found on the wreck. (© ESAG / UNIGE)
The shipwreck is legendary for the Antikythera mechanism, a mechanical calculator that was retrieved from the positioning in 1901. The Antikythera mechanism is likely one of the oldest computation units on this planet.
Baumer instructed Fox Information Digital that almost all researchers have targeted on the ship’s artifacts, whereas his group is making an attempt to “perceive the shipwreck and the wreckage as a complete.”
“With the picket elements that we discovered, we hope to seek out out when precisely and perhaps additionally the place it has been constructed,” Baumer mentioned. “It’s positioned at a depth between 45 to 70 meters beneath sea degree, which helped to protect it.”
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He additionally added that his group employed skilled divers and underwater drones to raised perceive the shipwreck.
![Split image of fragments and shipwreck site](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/ANTIKYTHERIA-SHIPWRECK-GREECE-3.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Skilled divers and underwater drones have been deployed to raised perceive the shipwreck. (© ESAG / UNIGE)
“Till this 12 months, little or no of the ship itself has been identified, largely from some planks that the well-known underwater researcher has retrieved,” he added. “This 12 months, we have now discovered for the primary time a small, however structural a part of the hull that’s delivering essential details about the development of the ship, and that’s most likely laying on its unique place.”
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“If that will probably be confirmed, we will study rather a lot concerning the place of the wreck on the ocean floor, and about its dimensions, and state of preservation, so the analysis is opening new inquiries to be investigated.”