Finding shipwrecks with high technology
By Sid Perkins
UPI Science News
WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- Underwater archaeologists are using the
latest in technology to explore the oldest of shipwrecks -- and they're
doing it in ever deeper waters.
Bob Ballard, most widely known for exploring the Titanic, has now turned
his attention to sunken ships from a more distant past. He recently
founded the Institute For Exploration in Mystic, Conn., which will apply
advanced mapping systems and underwater robotics to the rapidly developing
field of deep-water archaeology.
Earlier this summer Ballard led an exploration of eight ships that sank
about 100 miles (161 km) north of Tunisia. The team recovered more than
100 artifacts from shipwrecks lying beneath 2,500 feet (762 m) of water
along an ancient trade route between Rome and Carthage.
Ballard and his team searched the 20-square-mile (52-square-km) area in a
nuclear submarine equipped with sonar that could reach out thousands of
yards. He says, "The submarine was finding a new wreck every two days. We
eventually had to ask them to stop looking."
Before these discoveries, no major ancient shipwreck sites had been
explored in water deeper than 200 feet (61 m), which represents less than
5 percent of the world's oceans. The technologies used by Ballard and his
team can reach depths of 20,000 feet (6,096 m), allowing researchers to
cover 98 percent of the world's oceans.
Standing amid a group of artifacts raised from one of the Roman-era
wrecks, Ballard said, "I'm convinced the deep sea holds more human history
than all of the museums in the world."
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