More Secrets of the Antikythera

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Credit: National Archaeological Museum of Athens

We’ve shared the story of the Antikythera as a writing prompt before. But did you what else was discovered on the same shipwrecked vessel?

In addition to the Antikythera, called the most technologically complex object ever found from the ancient world, divers uncovered a massive haul of artifacts from the ship, including antique glassware, jewelery, solid marble and bronze statues, and ancient coins. In fact, the Antikythera was almost an afterthought, as it was encased in natural deposits and mold.

Divers returned to the site in the 1970s, finding hundreds of objects, including ceramic vessels, gemstones, fine glassware, and human skeletal remains. Scientists returned again in 2012 and a more recent survey found an entirely new section of the wreckage. Divers have found human teeth, a marble plinth for a statue, a lead collar for an anchor, and the weathered, marble head of a bearded male figure believed to be the Greek hero, Hercules. The part may belong to a headless statute of Hercules found in 1901.

What else might they find? Who owns these treasures? To what lengths might someone go to obtain them? What happens next?