Page 10. MAINE COASTAL NEWS November 2014 Waterfront News Stunning Finds from Ancient Greek Shipwreck
New Antikythera Discoveries Prove Lux- ury Cargo Survives
A Greek and international team of divers and archaeologists has retrieved stunning new fi nds from an ancient Greek ship that sank more than 2,000 years ago off the remote island of Antikythera. The rescued antiquities include tableware, ship components, and a giant bronze spear that would have belonged to a life-sized warrior statue.
The Antikythera wreck was fi rst dis- covered in 1900 by sponge divers who were blown off course by a storm. They subsequently recovered a spectacular haul of ancient treasure including bronze and marble statues, jewellery, furniture, luxury glassware, and the surprisingly complex An- tikythera Mechanism. But they were forced to end their mission at the 55-meter-deep site after one diver died of the bends and two were paralyzed. Ever since, archaeologists have wondered if more treasure remains buried beneath the sea bed.
Now a team of international archaeolo- gists including Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Theot- okis Theodoulou of the Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities have returned to the treacherous site using state-of-the-art tech- nology. During their fi rst excavation season, from September 15 to October 7, 2014, the researchers have created a high-resolution, 3D map of the site using stereo cameras mounted on an autonomous underwater ve- hicle (AUV). Divers then recovered a series of fi nds which prove that much of the ship’s cargo is indeed still preserved beneath the sediment.
Components of the ship, including mul- tiple lead anchors over a metre long and a bronze rigging ring with fragments of wood
still attached, prove that much of the ship survives. The fi nds are also scattered over a much larger area than the sponge divers realized, covering 300 meters of the seafl oor. This together with the huge size of the an- chors and recovered hull planks proves that the Antikythera ship was much larger than previously thought, perhaps up to 50 meters long.
“The evidence shows this is the largest ancient shipwreck ever discovered,” says Foley. “It’s the Titanic of the ancient world.” The archaeologists also recovered a beautiful intact table jug, part of an ornate bed leg, and most impressive of all, a 2-me- ter-long bronze spear buried just beneath the surface of the sand. Too large and heavy to have been used as a weapon, it must have belonged to a giant statue, perhaps a warrior or the goddess Athena, says Foley. In 1901, four giant marble horses were discovered on the wreck by the sponge divers, so these could have formed part of a complex of statues involving a warrior in a chariot that was pulled by the four horses.
The shipwreck dates from 70 to 60 BC and is thought to have been carrying a lux- ury cargo of Greek treasures from the coast of Asia Minor west to Rome. Antikythera stands in the middle of this major shipping route and the ship probably sank when a violent storm smashed it against the island’s sheer cliffs.
The wreck is too deep to dive safely using regular scuba equipment, so the divers had to use rebreather technology, in which carbon dioxide is scrubbed from the exhaled air while oxygen is introduced and recircu- lated. This allowed them to dive on the site for up to three hours at a time.
The archaeologists plan to return next year to excavate the site further and recover
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more of the ship’s precious cargo. The fi nds, particularly the bronze spear, are “very promising,” says Theodolou. “We have a lot of work to do at this site to uncover its secrets.”
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti- tution is a private, non-profi t organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine re- search, engineering, and higher education.
The IMOCA General Meeting took place in Nantes on Wednesday 15th October. Two important decisions were taken: foils were allowed and the rule won’t be changed before the end of the next Vendée Globe. So there will be foils on the latest boats. We in- terviewed the class President, Jean Kerhoas to fi nd out more. Mr Kerhoas, could you sum up the decision taken at the IMOCA General Meeting? “Firstly, we should stress that the Gener- al Meeting went smoothly with 69 attending out of the 77 registered and the discussions were very thorough, constructive and polite with no animosity. SConcerning the matter of whether or not to ban foils, everyone was able to express what they thought – both for and against – and once again, we voted with a very big majority in favour of not changing the rule. That means that there is still freedom to do what you want with the appendages. We also did what was required to ensure that the rules can never change again between two Vendée Globe races. Any modifi cations to class rules will only be possible at the Meeting following on from the end of each race.” To help us understand, can you ex- plain the context behind this important decision?
“The rules voted in April 2013 were set up following a long debate between those in favour of a move towards a one-design boat (identical boats – editor’s note) and those, who wanted to keep the Open aspect (open rules) in the IMOCA class. It was decided that masts and keeels would be standardised, but that the hulls and appendages would
Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit
www.whoi.edu.
IMOCA General Meeting - Foils or Not?
remain open to allow room for innovation and research. We have just confi rmed this principle. A very large majority understood that it was in the general interest.” How many boats are being built? “Today, there are six new boats being
built. The designers and the teams obviously looked at where the rules allow innovation, that is to say the hulls and appendages. Some members of the IMOCA were worried by this prospect – which is why this meeting took place and led to this decision. The teams building these new boats are already well down that road, so it was not reasonable for us to tell them that the rule was about to change again. This was a wise decision and once again taken in a calm atmosphere by a very large majority: 53 in favour of not changing the rule, 15 against, 1 abstention.” So there will be foils on the Vendée Globe boats, but they won’t be fl ying? “No, of course not. We’re looking here at ballasted monohulls, not at America Cup multihulls. We can say they are lifted, are lighter and for the moment, no one can say exactly what the gains will be in terms of per- formances thanks to these new appendages. We’re going to have to wait for the new boats to be launched from early 2015 onwards. We do know that it represents an additional
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MMM's Economic Impact
Continued from Page 9.
million, with the majority of the money be- ing brought to Maine from other states and countries, creating a signifi cant contribution to the economic growth of the region and state. Furthermore, MMM’s importance to branding Maine as an attractive place to visit is “virtually priceless,” according to the report, which states that were a marketing fi rm assigned to produce this level of brand impact for the state, “its cost would be in the millions.” A complete copy of the report is avail-
able online at
www.mainemaritimemuseum. org/media/economicimpact.pdf.
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