From the 4th to 1st century BC, there was a thriving trade between what is now the west coast of Turkey and the Roman Empire, with various Greek islands as stopping off points as the ships made their way across the Mediterranean. There were also a lot of shipwrecks (about 1 in 20 or 30 trips).
One of these was discovered by sponge divers over 100 years ago, but more substantive reclamation had to wait until Jacques Cousteau partnered with the Greek Archeological Society about 50 years ago. Among other things, there were amazing marble statues on this ship. The marble exposed to the seawater for thousands of years was eroded and pitted. But if it had lain under the silty bottom, it was as smooth as when it was carved! The following sculpture was partly buried and partly eroded, as you will see.
The sculpture is of a young boy, leaning over to pick something up. This is the side that was exposed to the elements.
Now you can see a transitional place on his face where some erosion is visible--yet his shoulder and arm and bent leg, which were deeper in the silt, are completely smooth.
But the most amazing discovery in the shipwreck is billed as "the first computer." As described in the catalog: "it is the earliest [2nd century BC] preserved portable astronomical calculator. It displayed the positions of the Sun, the Moon and most probably the five planets known in antiquity. It was used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, it kept an accurate calendar of many years, and displayed the date of Pan-Hellenic games . . ."
What they actually found were few remnants of heavily scarred, pitted, and eroded brass gears plus a piece of a metal "cover" that contained "directions." Only after modern technology enabled scientists to look inside these encrusted clumps of corroded metal did they discover over 33 different gears of different sizes. Unfortunately, this technology was lost and not replicated for nearly 1500 years.
These pieces, combined with some historical references, were used by modern artists and engineers to rebuild what they call "The Mechanism." Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpLcnAIpVRA for a full description of the process as well as a layer-by-layer description of the internal gearing.
If that fascinates you and you want to know more about it, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQSHiAYt98
One of these was discovered by sponge divers over 100 years ago, but more substantive reclamation had to wait until Jacques Cousteau partnered with the Greek Archeological Society about 50 years ago. Among other things, there were amazing marble statues on this ship. The marble exposed to the seawater for thousands of years was eroded and pitted. But if it had lain under the silty bottom, it was as smooth as when it was carved! The following sculpture was partly buried and partly eroded, as you will see.
But the most amazing discovery in the shipwreck is billed as "the first computer." As described in the catalog: "it is the earliest [2nd century BC] preserved portable astronomical calculator. It displayed the positions of the Sun, the Moon and most probably the five planets known in antiquity. It was used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, it kept an accurate calendar of many years, and displayed the date of Pan-Hellenic games . . ."
What they actually found were few remnants of heavily scarred, pitted, and eroded brass gears plus a piece of a metal "cover" that contained "directions." Only after modern technology enabled scientists to look inside these encrusted clumps of corroded metal did they discover over 33 different gears of different sizes. Unfortunately, this technology was lost and not replicated for nearly 1500 years.
These pieces, combined with some historical references, were used by modern artists and engineers to rebuild what they call "The Mechanism." Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpLcnAIpVRA for a full description of the process as well as a layer-by-layer description of the internal gearing.
If that fascinates you and you want to know more about it, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQSHiAYt98
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