a new life in the sea

Exploring the Titanic of the Ancient World | History | Smithsonian

2015-02-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

Thank you Smithsonian Magazine for highlighting our #exosuitproject at #Antikythera last fall. History itself marks the repeat cycle of time, and it is the cycle of time, perhaps, that has kept our focus on and at #Antikythera.

Much more work to be done, and secrets will be unveiled... read the article.

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Home sweet home | #exosuitproject returns from #antikythera

2014-10-10T13:54:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a stretch - despite Greece being a new work locale for me, the start of the 'Return to Antikythera' expedition set in as old hat. As these things go, challenges are defined, solutions are identified, and then it comes down to putting together all the pieces with a degree of flexibility to meet the challenges.

Despite all the flag waving and publicity that the project managed to muster, particularly with the excitement of the Exosuit making its debut work performance for science, for me the most important element of the project was appreciating the depth of national pride that this effort brought to the country of Greece and its people.

The Greek Navy, who we worked very closely with aboard the vessel 'Thetis' to stage the Exosuit operation, met us with a warm welcome, and were so very proud to be engaged in this technical demonstration. As I later learned, there is a bit of a rivalry with their neighboring Turkish Navy, who operates a Hardsuit program for deep water tasks. Being able to supervise Fotis Lazarou's (Greek Navy Diver) Exosuit dive, which was the deepest made at the Antikythera site, was in my opinion one of the proudest moments of the project. This was also a challenge - I trained Lazarou on the suit at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the spring, and evident at that time was the challenge of working through language barriers with technical information. The enthusiasm of the Greek team pushed it all through however, and we both worked together to communicate through these barriers and make it all happen. In the end, the common language of the life aquatic - depth, time, pressure - became readily understood out of shear necessity.

A few project press links:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2786434/Search-ancient-underwater-computer-begins-Archaeologists-wear-Exosuit-rummage-2-200-year-old-shipwreck.html
http://news.yahoo.com/exosuit-gets-wet-quest-buried-shipwreck-treasure-143236979.html
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/expeditions/2014/10/08/return-to-the-antikythera-shipwreck-the-first-mission-for-exosuit/

What's next? Well, several exciting finds were made at the research site including an array of Bronze age artifacts which substantiate further excavation as it is clearly evident that high value antiquities remain concealed at the site. What remains a challenge is realizing the massive amount of time at depth to carry out a careful excavation across the full scale of the wreck site - which is now believed to be significantly larger than previously documented.

While weather severely limited the extent of Exosuit operations this year, I think the entire team is convinced that this remains the safest means to be productive over lengthy blocks of time at the study site. Future work with the Exosuit at Antikythera is certainly on the horizon, and will remain a topic for discussion over the coming months.

The 'Return to Antikythera' project was jointly organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The author acknowledges the J.F. White Contracting Company for their forward looking investment into making the Exosuit ADS available for scientific programs, and for Hublot, the Swiss watchmaker, for sponsoring the Exosuit operation at Antikythera.

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Antikythera mechanism expedition begins search for missing fragments of world’s oldest known computer

2014-09-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

Nice recent article about the forthcoming #exosuitproject mission to #Antikythera. Will be en route in just a few days.

Antikythera mechanism expedition begins search for missing fragments of world’s oldest known computer.

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2014 #Exosuitproject Expedition | Return to #Antikythera

2014-09-04T11:30:00.001-04:00

In just a couple of short weeks, we're off on the Return to Antikythera Expedition. This year's project has been in development for over a year, and builds on work dating to the very early 20th century when the Bronze age wreck site was first discovered by Greek sponge divers.

Over the past several months, I have had the fortunate pleasure of working with the team members of this 2014 Antikythera Expedition including the Chief Scientist, Brendan Foley, his colleagues from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and representatives of the Greek Navy, training them on use of the Exosuit ADS for this year's archaeological mission.

The Mission
The mission for this fall - dive, dive, dive, and accumulate as many up close and personal hours on the wreck site as humanly possible. At depths of 60 to 100 meters, the site is indeed within more conventional reach, however productive bottom time for the working scientists has remained a bottleneck. The Exosuit will likely solve that problem, and afford unparalleled interpretation of the site by the team's archaeologists to guide further detailed survey and excavation. It is anticipated that one week of Exosuit operations will provide for more bottom time at this site than has ever been conducted. That alone opens up the promise for new discoveries - perhaps even a new Antikythera Mechanism.

In Context
The Antikythera mechanism itself has been a focal point of study, and even an obsession, by scholars for more than a century, as it stands alone separated by over a thousand years of lost art before comparable innovations are reintroduced to modern civilization. Where did it come from?

As our new friends at the Greek Navy have indicated, diving is a central element to Greek culture, and putting the Exosuit to work for the first time in Greece while expanding upon a lineage of archaeological work that so deeply impacts their cultural heritage, this project will likely resonate for decades. I am actually more excited about the social and cultural exchange on this expedition than the diving - and that's a bold statement coming from yours truly.

More Information
More information can be found on the 2014 Return to Antikythera Expedition, and the history of Antikythera itself here:

The Video

Mission Content

The author acknowledges the J.F. White Contracting Company for reaching out to the science community to afford new opportunities for discovery with the Exosuit, and Hublot for their sponsorship of the Exosuit operation. More about the the Return to Antikythera Project can be found here: http://antikythera.whoi.edu/.

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Antikythera | Diving through Time

2014-08-19T14:24:00.000-04:00

The last several months, and particularly the past couple of weeks have been nothing short of mind numbing...in hindsight, in my opinion anyway, bringing the Exosuit full online and science-mission ready has been nothing short of a monumental task in a relatively short timeframe. While one mission has been triaged for a short time, mission #2 is fast approaching: the Return to Antikythera.

Among the fortunate few who have had the opportunity to work with the suit at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution this spring and summer were the team members of this 2014 Antikythera Expedition. I had the fortunate opportunity to train the Chief Scientist, Brendan Foley, his colleagues from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, and representatives of the Greek Navy, in prep for this fall's project.

The mission for this fall - dive, dive, dive, and accumulate as many up close and personal hours on the wreck site as humanly possible. At depths of 60 to 100 meters, the site is indeed within more conventional reach, however productive bottom time for the working scientists has remained a bottleneck. The Exosuit will likely solve that problem, and afford unparalleled interpretation of the site by the team's archaeologists to guide further detailed survey and excavation. It is anticipated that one week of Exosuit operations will provide for more bottom time at this site than has ever been conducted. That alone opens up the promise for new discoveries - perhaps even a new Antikythera Mechanism.

While at Woods Hole, we also discussed the potential need to carefully collect artifacts. This was a challenge in advance preparations, as we just aren't sure what type of artifacts or antiquities may need to be collected - big, small, buried, tough, or fragile - this remains a question mark. Given these varied anticipated items, on one 2.5 hour proficiency dive, I focused my effort on working 'belly down' and within a very small area, simply crab walking using my arms and manipulators, and doing some selective sampling of various rocks and other items on the bottom. I was very pleased with the results in that staying belly down, with my face very close to the work, and being able to selectively sample with some degree of grace was just one reassuring demonstration that ADS may offer the versatility needed for the job - again 'the Human Element' at work and far superseding the capabilities of submersibles and other robotics.

The Antikythera mechanism itself has been a focal point of study, and even an obsession, by scholars for more than a century, as it stands alone separated by over a thousand years of lost art before comparable innovations are reintroduced to modern civilization. Where did it come from?

As our new friends at the Greek Navy have indicated, diving is a central element to Greek culture, and putting the Exosuit to work for the first time in Greece while expanding upon a lineage of archaeological work that so deeply impacts their cultural heritage, this project will likely resonate for decades. I am actually more excited about the social and cultural exchange on this expedition than the diving - and that's a bold statement coming from yours truly.

With the equipment loaded up and now en route across the Atlantic, we're winding down mission planning to ensure a safe and productive few weeks on site. While I usually spend time with the biology crowd, I must say that I am looking forward to dipping my toe into underwater archaeology.

In the coming weeks, I'll be sharing various dispatches from this epic journey to Antikythera, as we dive through time to reveal something about our past, our present, and quite likely our future.

The author acknowledges the J.F. White Contracting Company for reaching out to the science community to afford new opportunities for discovery with the Exosuit, and Hublot for their sponsorship of the Exosuit operation. More about the the Return to Antikythera Project can be found here: http://antikythera.whoi.edu/.

For more from the author, visit oceanopportunity.com. Donate today to enable exploration and to keep related content coming!

training days

2014-05-08T22:03:00.000-04:00

Training and proficiency are almost certainly the two most important things to undertake in preparing for underwater activities. When not diving routinely, the effort to maintain any level of proficiency can be daunting; nevertheless it is a necessary investment to make anticipated work highly efficient and effective.

Proficiency itself comes only with time in the water. At this very interesting and exciting crossroads in the future of diving, it actually very difficult to determine just how much time it takes to become proficient with something, and further what training is even required to provide a baseline understanding of what we are striving to do. Like anything new, it takes time for evolution to run its course, but seeing that in motion is incredibly rewarding.

First production Exosuit ADS deployment during a training exercise at WHOI.

That said, it also brings a fair bit of stress, as incremental advancements are at the fingertips of individuals, not a long lineage of well established standards and procedures that are the product of numerous people, perhaps spanning decades of contributions to any given field.

This week marked one of those special moments as the first Exosuit ADS training program for science was held at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in prep for work this fall in Greece at the famed and critically important Antikythera archaeological site. The work will allow the team to survey and potentially excavate artifacts at a deep contour of interest that has been otherwise out of reach by technical diving.

The week marked the convergence of two worlds - both the commercial and scientific sector - again working cooperatively and collectively just as they should be to achieve common goals and interests and carry us all forward. The effort could very well have mixed like oil and water, though the cooperation and camaraderie has been exceptional, and I can foresee tremendous success this fall and in the future.

As I sign off tonight, I'm doing so with just a few more just a few more gray hairs given the stress of the anticipation in bringing these two fronts together, but at the same time am relieved with a renewed confidence that we are going in a direction worth taking, and are indeed taking small steps that will better the lives of us all.

The first series of Exosuit ADS training dives have been generously supported by the J.F. White Contracting Company, and are being hosted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

For more from the author, visit oceanopportunity.com. Donate today to enable exploration and to keep related content coming!

a new life in the sea

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