Okay, I've changed my mind about going to the moon again. I'm back to going down and under the sea after watching the programme on the Tudor warship "Mary Rose" on SBS last night.
So many artifacts coming up from the silt and being preserved and restored are extending our knowledge of history that we should keep up underwater exploration.
To have a man replicate a musical instrument that has only been seen as an illustration and then be able to play it as it would have been heard at Henry Tudor's Court is living history.
I lovedthe fact that the last of the legendary English Long Bows have been found and preserved. That the arrows were found with them and analysis of the glue used for binding the flight and arrow head confirmed it was made with copper. The French had accused the English of using poisoned arrows and as copper causes massive infection in a wound then deliberately or inadvertently, the English were using a form of biological warfare.
The diving team now think they have found the bow castle which was the fighting platform of the ship buried deep in the silt and plan further dive seasons. The bow castle is in the photo above.
In the Mediterranean there has been a new development for marine archaeology. It's a robot called SeaBED, it's proper title is the autonomous underwater vehicle or AUV. SeaBED collected photos, sonograms and spectroscopic analyses that mapped an ancient shipwreck in a few days that would have taken scuba divers nearly seven years.
It uses a small mass spectroscope which allows non-intrusive chemical analysis of artefacts on the sea bed and a high resolution digital camera. SeaBED can go to 3000 metres to explore wrecks which is good news for archaeology. Depth means minimal turbulence, low sedimentation and no treasure hunters now or in the past.
Like the 'Mary Rose', the Mediterranean shipwrecks are pushing the boundaries of history. Phoenician ships have been dated to around 1200BC which alters the dating of the poet Homer's life. He was placed in the 8th Century BC because nobody thought the Phoenician sailors he mentions had sailed extensively until then.
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