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Signs of the Past

November 24, 2014

A REMUS 100 autonomous underwater vehicle dove through the clear, blue waters of the Mediterranean in September 2011 on a mission to find and survey Bronze Age shipwrecks off the coast of Greece. More recently, WHOI marine archaeologist Brendan Foley surveyed the seafloor near the Greek island of Antikythera for signs of artifacts from a famous wreck that occurred there nearly  2,000 years ago. Because their cargo is often preserved far better than artifacts on land, such ancient wrecks act as a kind of time machine that allow scientists and historians to examine the past with unprecedented clarity.(Photo by Brendan Foley, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)