Robot maps ancient Greek shipwreck

Robot maps ancient Greek shipwreck: "Robot maps ancient Greek shipwreck

Feb. 2, 2006

Courtesy Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
and World Science staff

Researchers say they have used an underwater robot to map the remains of a sunken ancient Greek merchant ship off the Greek coast.


Fish swim by and a sponge grows among amphora from a 4th century B.C. Greek merchant ship found in 200 feet of water off Chios in the Aegean Sea and photographed by SeaBED. (�Chios 2005 Shipwreck Survey: �Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities; and Hellenic Center for Marine Research)



The team accomplished in two days what it would take divers years to do in studying the 4th-Century B.C. ship and its cargo, researchers said.

�Our technologies allows us to learn about the past in ways that we couldn�t achieve otherwise,� said Brendan Foley, an archaeologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass. and a member of the team.
The technology, he added, will let many researchers stop looking for mere �footnotes� in history and focus on bigger things. �We�re looking to write new chapters, and are convinced that in 10 to 15 years using these methods, we will have changed history.�

The project is the first in a new collaboration between U.S. and Greek researchers, who discovered the wreck in 2004 during a sonar survey.
The wooden ship sank off Chios and Oinoussia islands in the eastern Aegean Sea in 60 meters (about 200 feet) of water, too deep for conventional SCUBA diving. Its most visible remains are a cargo of 400 ceramic jars, called amphoras, filled with wine and olive oil.

The researchers said they made a precise survey of the site using the robotic vehicle, ca"