Ancient Underwater Recovery

[bomber]

was watching ancient discoveries on the history channel the other nite and they showed that alexander used a diving bell some 2500 years ago and that they actually used different types of underwater systems(including a type of rebreather made from goatskin) to recover treasure and mount an attacks,does this mean that maybe there not as much down there as we think.i know these guys were'nt going down any more than 20-30 feet,but it does make ya wonder

 

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[pcolaboy]

I certainly think there was some capability of underwater recovery in shallow water. Alexander the Great supposedly had his diving bell developed so he could find mysterious lighted objects he saw enter the water from the air. Hard to believe but true.

I'd be willing to bet that there will be some surprise discoveries of ancient technology in this area. Great topic man.

Pcola

 

[bomber]

if ya get a chance,check it out its on all week

 

[Salvor6]

I saw that same program and there was no mention of the divers using the goat skin bags to recover treasure. One archie thought they used the bags to float weapons across the river.

 

[pcolaboy]

I saw that same program and there was no mention of the divers using the goat skin bags to recover treasure. One archie thought they used the bags to float weapons across the river.

I think they would have a pretty hard time sucking air out of the goat skins any deeper than 12 feet due to the pressure on the lungs. Like more than a few kids have tried over the years, I experimented with making an extended snorkel using float and a hose but I couldn't pull a breath of air down far enough. I guess it would be possible for them to force the air into their lungs by squeezing the goat skins?

Pcola

 

[mauijim1]

How would they get the air below the surface? Maybe with rocks as weights to pull a sac full of air down below the surface, I am sure if they experimented, they could go pretty deep, also a lot of people can free dive pretty deep on 1 breath of air.

 

[ScubaDude]

The goat skin air tank should work fine, the air is going to get compressed to match ambient as you take it down. It shouldn't be any different than breathing from a trapped air pocket at depth. It's no different than the early wooden barrel diving bells that were used hundreds of years ago.

 

[pcolaboy]

The goat skin air tank should work fine, the air is going to get compressed to match ambient as you take it down. It shouldn't be any different than breathing from a trapped air pocket at depth. It's no different than the early wooden barrel diving bells that were used hundreds of years ago.

Thats a good point.

 

[ted750]

I assume you all know about the antikythera mechanism (ancient calculation device) the true depth of the technology developed at the museion of alexandria will probably never truly be understood. the burning of those scrolls set the world back AT LEAST 2000 years. They may have had knowledge which we still do not possess, of course, the romans felt it uneconomical to pursue these technologies because of the vast amount of cheap human labor available to them. As early as the third dynasty of ancient egypt circa 2700 B.C. the egyptians were performing medical practices that not even Da Vinci could have dreamed of. One thing I personally find insulting is the notion that the egyptians were "helped along" with some of their constructions by either aliens or some other junk like that. It's all really ridiculous. The ancients were much smarter then most people give them credit for. And I think that we have only scratched the surface of the treasures the ancient world has stored away.

On a somewhat related note, I have been meaning to bring up the treasure of persepolis, and i guess it fits in with this whole "ancient world" theme. The persepolis treasure is mostly my own invention but is really quite logical when you look at the evidence. After alexander the great killed the persian emperor, the persians pretty much recognized their doom. And the priests at the holy city of persepolis had at least a months notice before alexander arrived and sacked the city. Although the amount of plunder alexander retrieved from the temples was obscene, it was no where near the amount that had been reported to have been stored there. My personal opinion is that the priests used the remaining laborers to move a large amount of the treasure to the natural caves which surround the city. In fact, I do not recall where, but I remember reading about a young boy who found a cave full of gold statues in the vicinity of persepolis in the 1890's. It just seems illogical to me that the priests would let their holy treasures be hauled away and melted down into greek staters with the images of alexanders gods. I really can't think of a bigger insult. I just thought I would bring that up, because I always found it interesting that no archaeologists had thought of this.

 

[Zephyr]

Sponge divers could go deeper than 30 ft. (more like 60 or 90), but it all depended on how long they could hold their breath....

 

[Cablava]

Sounds like most of you need to go back to basics and study Boyle's law, plus the specific gravity of anything they could have used as weights.

 

[bomber]

your right salvor about the goatskins and recovery,i just lumped it all together about the different"systems"that were used for different needs,how about the "dome" they showed with the weights on it, he was able to walk and breath fairly easy