A revolutionary new deep sea diving suit is helping archaeologists to fully explore the ancient shipwreck where they have discovered the world’s oldest computer.
The ancient computer device, called the Antikythera Mechanism—is an
astrological clock dating to the second century BCE. A highly complex
device used to track the motion of the planets, it features at least 40
bronze cogs and gears and would not be matched by later Europeans for
1,500 years.
The technologically advanced analog computer was found along with a
large bronze statue of a young man in a shipwreck discovered in 1900 off
Antikythera, a remote Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The vessel is
believed to have been a cargo ship bound for Rome, and archaeologists
are confident that the new diving technology will lead to further
discoveries at the site.
“This was a ship bearing immense riches from Asia Minor,” team
member Dimitris Kourkoumelis told AFP. He believes “there are dozens of
items left” to find among the ruins. In particular, the exhibition will
search for a second ship they suspect is sitting some 820 feet from the
original site.
“We may find one or more monumental statues that were left behind in
1901, in the mistaken belief that they were rocks,” added Brendan
Foley, a marine archaeologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution at Massachusetts, which has previously assisted on a dive to
the Titanic wreck.
The team will benefit from the futuristic Exosuit, which allows
divers to descend 492 feet and still perform delicate tasks. Previously,
archaeologists had been unable to work at a depth of more than 200
feet.
Other technological advances will also be at the team’s disposal. “We
will have more bottom time than any previous human visitors to the
site, because we dive with mixed gas rebreathers,” boasts the
expedition’s website. “Each diver will have more than 30 minutes of
bottom time per day, and will enjoy greater mental acuity and a larger
safety margin than that of previous divers at Antikythera.”
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