New Treasures Found From 2,000-Year-Old Antikythera Shipwreck

Two millennia after a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera, the site is still yielding treasures that reveal details of life in ancient times.

The wreck was first discovered by sponge divers in 1900 and has yielded fascinating artifacts ever since, including a geared mechanism thought to be the world’s first computer. This month, explorers diving on the site found more than 50 new items, including fragments of glassware and ceramics, a bronze armrest thought to be part of a throne, and a flute made of bone or ivory. Every time divers explore the area, one specialist told the Smithsonian Magazine, they find something remarkable. “It’s like a tractor-trailer truck wrecked on the way to Christie’s auction house for fine art,” he said.

The team hopes to learn from the new trove of relics, possibly even extracting DNA samples from the ceramics, and plans to return to the site in May.

[Smithsonian Magazine]

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