Antikythera, Greece — The yellow, torpedo-shaped vehicles glided through the clear Mediterranean water just 10 feet above the 2,000-year-old shipwreck on the bottom. During the weekend of September 20 the autonomous underwater vehicles made 40 long passes over the area that is home to the most famous of all ancient wrecks, the Antikythera “treasure ship,” taking its picture in detail for the first time……
The expedition is significant for marine archeology for two reasons. First, the spot is among the most famous of all marine sites, but it has never been properly searched, recorded and excavated. The team will correct that, and in addition, the researchers hope to find more ancient objects. On divers’ visits 114 years ago and 38 years ago, only a small portion of the wreck, perhaps 20 percent, was explored. Divers on the new team, such as Alexandros Sotiriou, will delve into the unexplored majority of the wreck.
In addition, Foley intends to demonstrate a new and efficient form of marine archeology that can explore many more sites, more effectively, to unearth the past. “Shipwrecks represent a completely different kind of information than historical records or land archeology can provide,” he says. They record thousands of years of culture and trade, as well as caches of objects from the everyday items to the extraordinary brass computer found at this location.