More precious archaeological finds are waiting at the "Titanic of the Ancient World," archaeologists found out as divers returned to the site of the famous Antikythera shipwreck in Greece. The exploration is considered to be one of the biggest underwater archaeological explorations in the world, according to New Scientist.
The $1.8 million project, led by Theotokis Theodoulou and Dimitris Kourkoumelis from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and Brendan Foley from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, ran from Aug. 26 to Sept. 16.
"The shipwreck is far from exhausted," Foley said in a press release. "Every single dive on it delivers fabulous finds, and reveals how the '1 percent' lived in the time of Caesar."
Divers recovered more than 50 artifacts, including an intact amphora, a glass figure from a board game, a wine jug, a lead salvage ring, a stone structure that was probably the base of a small statue, portions of a bone flute and a bronze armrest that could have been part of a throne. They also discovered parts of the ship's hull.
The shipwreck dates back from around 65 B.C. It was discovered in 1900 off the southwestern Aegean island of Antikythera by sponge fishermen, who were able to retrieve 36 marble statues of Greek mythology gods, bronze scuptures - including a life-size figure of an athlete - and other luxury items.
The most famous find in the shipwreck was a geared mechanical device dubbed as the Antikythera Mechanism, the world's first ever computer. Scientists believe it was used to accurately predict solar and lunar eclipses and to calculate the movements of the planets in the solar system.
In the 2015 expedition, the divers spent a total of 40 hours of bottom time. The 10-man team, which included four archaeologists, explored the site with a multi-dimensional map covering 10,500 square meters of the area.
"There's obviously stuff down there. We just weren't digging deep enough before," said archaeologist Gemma Smith, who was part of the dive team, according to New Scientist.
The artifacts will be subjected to various tests, such as a DNA analysis, that could provide more information about their composition.
"We were very lucky this year, as we excavated many finds within their context, which gave us the opportunity to take full advantage of all the archaeological information they could provide," Theodoulou said.
