Researchers have found a skeleton on the Antikythera shipwreck and will attempt to extract DNA from it:
The researchers are on the tiny Greek island of Antikythera, a 10-minute boat ride from the wreckage of a 2,000-year-old merchant ship. Discovered by sponge divers in 1900, the wreck was the first ever investigated by archaeologists. Its most famous bounty to date has been a surprisingly sophisticated clockwork device that modelled the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets in the sky — dubbed the 'Antikythera mechanism'. But on 31 August this year, investigators made another groundbreaking discovery: a human skeleton, buried under around half a metre of pottery sherds and sand. "We're thrilled," says Brendan Foley, an underwater archaeologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and co-director of the excavations team. "We don't know of anything else like it."
[...] The skeleton uncovered in August consists of a partial skull with three teeth, two arm bones, several rib pieces and two femurs, all apparently from the same person. Foley's team plans further excavations to see whether more bones are still under the sand. That so many individuals have been found at Antikythera — when most wrecks yield none — may be partly because few other wrecks have been as exhaustively investigated. But the researchers think it also reveals something about how the ship sank. This was a huge vessel for its time, perhaps more than 40 metres long, says Foley, with multiple decks and many people on board. The wreck is close to shore, at the foot of the island's steep cliffs. He concludes that a storm smashed the ship against the rocks so that it broke up and sank before people had a chance to react. "We think it was such a violent wrecking event, people got trapped below decks."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @01:45AM
Will someday go the way of the Antikythera clock computer.
You'd think it wouldn't, but think of all the possible disasters we might face just within the next 100 years or so. There could be another dark ages, just like the scifi guys predict.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday September 21 2016, @07:08AM
Scifi guys yes, but don't forget polysci too. You don't need to come up with fantastic stories to see the dark ages coming again, just look around you and extrapolate.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:58AM
and don't forget the ecosci guys & gals as well...
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday September 21 2016, @01:46AM
was last quoted as saying something about there being bigger things than bernie. not sure what that means; maybe we'll soon find out!
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @01:53AM
Where's that guy who pretends to be an ancient greek? They found your skeleton, dude.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 21 2016, @07:21AM
Not me! Back then, I tended to choose my captains and crew rather carefully. You should do the same in the present, lest you end up on an archeologist's table, instead of me!
(Score: 3, Funny) by RamiK on Wednesday September 21 2016, @02:19AM
This guy could have been Jesus' father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @02:24AM
Test the DNA for markers of homosexual pedophilia to be sure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @03:19AM
Jesus' college roommate? Would that be Rick Fox?
(Score: 3, Funny) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday September 21 2016, @03:26AM
jesus does my lawn on thursdays. I'll have to ask him.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 21 2016, @07:23AM
Jesus was well after my brother's nephew, so not likely. Besides, Hebrews? Who had heard of them, BC?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:35AM
For example, the Romans that conquered them?
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:49AM
And the Pharo. I'm creeping death...
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:35PM
You are thinking of Alexander the Great, the Romans were still newbs back then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:29PM
The exact date of the shipwreck is a bit squishier than that.
Meanwhile, the maritime activities of the ancient Hebrews were noteworthy.
There was, as an example, an artificial harbor built by Hebrews of that era which was remarkable.
[1] Yup, the same dude reputed to have ordered the mass murder of male infants.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Frosty Piss on Wednesday September 21 2016, @05:55AM
The local police have began a murder investigation...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @08:38AM
And the local language police have begun a grammar investigation. ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @04:45PM
Costa Cruise Lines issued an apology...
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 21 2016, @06:54PM
On the other hand, it's his fault. There clearly would have been enough room on the door.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @09:12AM
Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor, not an archaeologist!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 21 2016, @11:53AM
The title for the story in the Register was, "2,000 yr old dead man found in front of 2,000 year old computer."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 21 2016, @01:11PM
But unfortunately the story didn't fit into 64 bits, so it couldn't be loaded into the register.