Statue of Hercules ‘Missing Piece’ Found? Archaeologist Suspects It Could Be the Marble Head Pulled from Sunken Ship

A larger-than-life-size marble head of a bearded man was recently reported to have been pulled from the depths, and archeologists are now saying it could be "the missing piece of the headless statue of Hercules of Antikythera."

As specified in a Mail Online report, the 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck off the coast of a Greek island known as Antikythera that held the oldest identified analog computer has recently shared more treasures with the whole world.

The statue, discovered in 1901, can be found in the National Archeological Museum in Greece. It was also found in the sunken ship, where a pair of human teeth will hopefully be examined to reveal the individuals they came from.

In the blog post, the team led by the Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities said, important information is expected to be extracted from the said pair of human teeth, found in marine deposits' solid agglomerate together with fragments of wood, copper, as well as other materials typical of a maritime disaster.

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(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany)
Marble, headless statue of a reclining, naked man. In his left hand holds a bowl, while below it is the lion's skin, recognized as Hercules.

Collecting Sediments from the Shipwreck

Essentially, the team added, genetic and isotopic analysis of teeth might be helpful to deduce information on the genome, as well as other characteristics pertinent to the origin of the individuals they belonged to.

Additionally, the team gathered samples of sediments from the ship's final resting place, enabling a microanalysis that will result in better knowledge of the dimensions and precise position of the shipwreck.

In an article posted on Antikythera.org, the team said that along with the analysis of the current artifacts, the newly applicable microarcheological practices would boost the ability to accurately reconstruct the disposition of the wreckage, as well as the conditions of the ship's sinking sometime during the first half of the 1st Century BC.

The Oldest Known Analog

In 1901, divers in the quest for sponges off the coast of the said Greek island in the Aegean Sea slipped upon a Roman-period shipwreck that, as mentioned, housed the highly sophisticated astronomical calculator, also known as the "oldest known analog computer."

The report also specified that the Antikythera Mechanism has since fascinated the scientific community and the whole world with wonder, although it has also ignited a more than a hundred years-long investigation into how an ancient civilization fashioned "such an incredible device."

The highly complicated mechanism, made up of up to 40 bronze cogs and gears, was utilized in ancient times to follow the solar system's track.

Moreover, the scans also showed that the mechanism was originally housed in a rectangular wooden frame with two doors covered in instructions for its use. Found at the front was one dial displaying the Greek zodiac and an Egyptian calendar.

Meanwhile, on the back were two more dials showing information on lunar eclipses and cycles. On the other hand, the calculator would have been operated by a hand crank.

Planet Tracker

In a similar report, The National Herald said that the device could track the movements of planets such as Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus-the only ones known at that time, the Sun's position, as well as the moon's phases and location.

The scientists have been able to read all names of the months on a 19-year calendar on the back of the mechanism.

They have suggested, too, that the mechanism might have been somehow associated with Archimedes after research showed the language engraved on the device.

Such inscriptions suggested that it had been manufactured in Syracuse or Corinth, where Archimedes had lived.

A related report about the shipwreck is shown on Smarthistory's YouTube video below:

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