Hold your breath: Divers are headed deep, deep underwater to uncover untold treasures from a mysterious wreck on the ocean floor.
Untold treasures, ancient artifacts, ancient underwater beasts — who knows what divers will find as the prepare to head into the inky blackness to seek out the “Titanic of the Ancient World” on the ocean floor near a remote Greek island.
But they do know one thing: this shipwreck could hold a treasure trove of artifacts, and they’ve already found one amazing one in their first inspection: the Antikythera Mechanism. The Antikythera Mechanism was the incredible discovery from last year that blew scientists away, and was unlike anything else discovered before, something that was simply described as a “device out of time,” according to a Newser report. The ancient mechanism could accurately predict eclipses as well as the planets’ positions, and scientists dated it all the way back to 87 BC before later changing it to closer to 150 to 100 BC.
That incredible discovery has only fueled scientists desire to further explore the source of this amazing discovery, a shipwreck deep underwater off a Greek island that was first discovered by songe divers in 1900, and dates to about 65 BC.
Scientists expect to find even more amazing treasures from the wreck. They’ve already recovered a bone flute, a bronze armrest that probably came from a throne, as well as glassware and ceramics, and even an ancient board game.
Scientists know there’s a lot more goodies to find down there, according to a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution statement as reported by USA Today.
A marine archaeologist send in the press release that every single dive has yielded an amazing find, and it is truly a snapshot of how the so-called “1%” of Caesar’s time actually lived.
This will be the first systematic excavation of the site, Woods Hole says. They had used a robotic submersible to examine the site last year.
This is no ordinary shipwreck: it’s considered one of the biggest archaeological projects in the entire world, according to the report.
Fortunately, weather has cooperated with the research teams, who have been able to conduct 60 dives to the debris field, which has been spread over a fairly large area.
As a result, the scientific community large dismisses telepathy has the result of fraud or self-delusion, and not as any sort of power on the part of the brain or a supernatural power.
Archaeologists said they were extremely fortunate to excavate as many finds as they could, allowing them a treasure trove of information they can use to study this time period and a collection of priceless artificats that will provide a window to the ancient world.
Divers eventually realized they would need to dig even deeper into the ocean floor, and the revelation turned out to be a success, according to the report, as they were able to find bronze pieces, a wine jug, and even a cooking pot. But with the new expedition coming up, archaeologists have even higher hopes for bigger finds.
It’s not the only major discovery regarding a shipwreck in recent weeks. A maintenance crew that was clearly debris under the U.S. 50 Bridge that spans the Nanticoke River last spring in Maryland found a piece of wood that looked like ship timbers, so they called in the experts. Archaeologists confirmed that their suspicions were correct, and that it was no ordinary ship, but perhaps the oldest ever found in the area that dated back to the 1700s, perhaps around the time of the Revolutionary War.
The experts believed that the oak wood it was made from probably come from between the Potomac River and Annapolis, and was fastened with wooden pegs, according to a WBAL-TV report. It was probably a 45-foot cargo ship that was meant for a small shipyard or plantation in the Maryland region, and it may have been set ablaze by British sympathizers around the time of the Revolutionary War in the 1780s.
The inspectors who were working the cleanup project who examined the mast noticed that the long piece of wood looked to be quite old, and were perhaps indicative of a shipwreck. It was then they realized that this might be an ancient shipwreck and therefore something special.
The Chesapeake Bay area has long been known as a treacherous place for shipwrecks throughout world history. The famous pirate Blackbeard himself had his ship run aground and sink off the coast of North Carolina, where its wreckage lies to this day.
The Outer Banks presented tremendous navigation problems for thousands of ships, causing untold number of sinkings and killing untold number of sailors. An estimated 5,000 ships have sunk in these waters since the 1500s by some estimates, including the USS Monitor, which participated in the famous Battle of the Hampton Roads engagement in the Civil War. It sank off the coast of Cape Hatteras.
It is often referred to as “The Graveyard” because it extends along the entire North Carolina coast and features huge amounts of ships deep on the bottom of the ocean, many of which have yet to be discovered because they are mostly inaccessible. And it isn’t just ancient ships that were lost to this region. The Bounty sank off Cape Hatteras as recently as 2012 when Hurricane Sandy came ashore, killing two people.
But it’s not the only “Graveyard of the Atlantic” — there’s also the sandy shoals of Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia, which have caused the sinkings of hundreds of ships in the last few hundred years. A total of 475 have been recorded since the 17th century. The reason why the area is so dangerous is because it constantly shifts, and therefore ships that can encounter rough waters and thick fog, causing the ships to be pushed near the island where they may run aground.
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