A second ancient shipwreck was discovered by divers off the island of Antikythera, near the area where the wreck of the ship that transported the famous Antikythera mechanism was discovered in the last century.

According to the Greek Ministry of Culture, the new find was located about 200 meters away from the original shipwreck. The remains of a wooden ship were found under the crushed cargo it was carrying.

These findings were documented and retrieved for further analysis, to more fully understand the relationship between the original shipwreck and the newly found one.

The Greek Ministry also said that two human teeth embedded in a compact mass with copper traces were found during the May 23-June 15 underwater excavation of the Antikythera island shipwreck that dates to around 60 BC.

New findings at the Antikythera shipwreck

Another finding during this marine excavation season was a greater-than-lifesize marble head of a man with a beard, which is identified as the Farnese type of Hercules, and could provide a fit with the headless statue no. 5742 at the National Archaeological Museum which was found by sponge divers in 1900.

This year’s findings were discovered after massive rocks weighing several tons were lifted out of the sea and exposed parts of the shipwreck not visible to date.

Other findings also included a lot of objects from the ship’s equipment, including copper and iron nails, and shapeless metal agglomerations covered by a crust of frozen water. All findings have been transferred to the Ephorate of Underwater Archaeology for conservation.

Work took place with the help of a new system to remove the rocks by the Hublot Xplorations group, of the Swiss clocks company, and by the Swiss Archaeological School under the supervision of Greek and foreign archaeologists in collaboration with several Ephorates and archaeologists (including marine archaeologists), university professors from Greece and abroad (especially Switzerland and Italy), and the Port Authority/Hellenic Coast Guard divers among others.

Last week astronomers from the University of Glasgow cast new light on the Antikythera mechanism, the world’s first computer device.

They have used statistical modeling techniques developed to analyze gravitational waves to establish the likely number of holes in one of the broken rings of the Antikythera mechanism.

The Glasgow team’s results provide fresh evidence that one of the components of the Antikythera mechanism was most likely used to track the Greek lunar year. They also offer new insight into the remarkable craftsmanship of the ancient Greeks.

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