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posted by Fnord666 on Monday October 09 2017, @04:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the hats-off-to-the-bull dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Marine archaeologists investigating the ancient shipwreck that yielded the Antikythera mechanism — a complex, bronze, geared device that predicted eclipses and showed the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets in the sky — have recovered a wealth of treasures, including bronze and marble statue pieces, a sarcophagus lid and a mysterious bronze disc decorated with a bull. The artefacts were trapped under boulders in a previously unexplored part of the site near the island of Antikythera, Greece, and the researchers think that large parts of at least seven statues are still buried nearby.

The discoveries are "extremely exciting", says Kenneth Lapatin, curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Only a handful of bronze statues survive from the ancient world, and they have almost invariably been treated and altered by previous conservators, undergoing processes that destroyed much of the information scientists might have gleaned from them. "Technology has improved so much," says Lapatin. "We can learn from these untreated finds."

[...] The team has made a stream of discoveries since work began in 2014, including wine jars, giant anchors, gold jewellery and a human skeleton, which is now being analysed for DNA. But the statues have remained hidden until now.

On 4 October, the team announced that during a 16-day dive season the previous month, they found several major statue pieces, including two marble feet attached to a plinth, part of a bronze robe or toga, and a bronze male arm, with two fingers missing but otherwise beautifully preserved. A slim build and "turning hand" gesture suggest that the arm may belong to a philosopher, says Theodoulou.

[...] Fresh, untreated finds such as those from Antikythera will give researchers the opportunity to use modern techniques to study a significant aspect of ancient Greek life — for example, by looking at casting methods, which precise alloys were used and whether the statues were made for export or had been previously displayed.

Foley and Theodoulou's team also recovered an intriguing bronze disc or wheel, about eight centimetres across, attached to four metal arms with holes for pins. A layer of hardened sediment hides its internal structure, but it superficially resembles the Antikythera mechanism, and researchers had initially hoped that it might be part of that ancient device: perhaps the gearing that calculated the positions of the planets, which is missing from the find.

But preliminary X-ray imaging conducted in an Athens hospital on 25 September revealed a surprise: instead of gear wheels, the image of a bull appeared.

[...] The team plans to return to Antikythera in May 2018, to break up the boulders and excavate beneath. "It's going to be a major operation," says Foley. "But we think it will be spectacular."

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Monday October 09 2017, @06:18AM (8 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Monday October 09 2017, @06:18AM (#579155) Journal
    You appear to be looking at the figure on the right side of the picture in the article.

    If you'll read the text below it, you'll find that's an artists reconstruction.

    I was clearly referring to the figure on the left - that's the actual x-ray.

    The artists reconstruction assumes it's a bull and fills it in accordingly. Of course it looks like a bull.

    The x-ray itself, however, is less unambiguous.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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  • (Score: 2) by rylyeh on Monday October 09 2017, @06:30AM

    by rylyeh (6726) <{kadath} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday October 09 2017, @06:30AM (#579160)

    Damm! OK - I'll clean up the X-ray image and search for it tomorrow (PDT).

    --
    "a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 09 2017, @06:31AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 09 2017, @06:31AM (#579161)

    In fact, I started to write another comment denigrating the artist's rendition, until I zoomed in on it and saw that it had more detail that the smaller thumbnail showed.

    The X-ray is what I'm talking about. Nice try, though.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday October 09 2017, @07:19AM (5 children)

      by Arik (4543) on Monday October 09 2017, @07:19AM (#579171) Journal
      OK now you're just being silly.

      BTW I loved the signature parody. Sorry I didn't mention that before. Nicely done.
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 2) by rylyeh on Monday October 09 2017, @08:44AM (4 children)

        by rylyeh (6726) <{kadath} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday October 09 2017, @08:44AM (#579193)

        Thanks! I will continue to rotate what I think are relevant Lovecraft quotes... Until I'm (un)dead?

        "That is not dead which can eternal lie... and with strange eons, even death may die."

        --
        "a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."
        • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday October 09 2017, @08:55AM (3 children)

          by Arik (4543) on Monday October 09 2017, @08:55AM (#579198) Journal
          Err, your sigs are cool too, but I was referring to

          ""Circumcised? These people are savages!""

          From an ac post a couple levels up.

          I'd link you but darned if I can figure out how the links are mangled at this hour.

          CID is 579153 but https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?cid=579153 doesnt seem to work.

          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?