Sunken Greek treasures at risk from scuba looters

A corroded mechanism recovered by sponge divers from a sunken wreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1902 changed the study of the ancient world forever.

The Antikythera Mechanism, a system of bronze gears from the 2nd century BC, was used to calculate the date of the Olympic Games based on the summer solstice. Its mechanical complexity was unequalled for 1,000 years, until the cathedral clocks of the Middle Ages.

Archaeologists believe hundreds more wrecks beneath the eastern Mediterranean may contain treasures, but a new law opening Greece's coastline to scuba diving has experts worried that priceless artefacts could disappear into the hands of treasure hunters.

"The future of archaeology in this part of the world is in the sea," said marine archaeologist Harry Tzalas. "This law is very dangerous, it opens the way to the looting of antiquities from the seabed which we don't even know exist."

Greece's 1932 antiquities law says all artefacts on land and in the sea belong to the state, but it does not regulate scuba diving, developed in the 1940s by Frenchman Jacques Cousteau.

A new law implemented in 2007 and designed to promote tourism opens most of Greece's 15,000-km (9,400-mile) coastline to scuba divers, except for about 100 known archaeological sites. Greece's archaeologists' union and two ecological societies have appealed for the law to be rescinded.

Meanwhile, some tour companies are luring tourists with the promise of ancient artefacts. "Scuba diving in Greece is permitted everywhere ... Ideal for today's treasure hunter," says one website (www.scuba-greece.com).

Katerina Dellaporta, director of antiquities at the Culture Ministry, says metal detectors and bathyspheres allow treasure hunters to find artefacts with ease in the Adriatic and Aegean.

"It's good to have tourism but we must protect antiquities," she said. "Not every diver is an illegal trafficker ... but we need to ensure these treasures remain for future generations." Most of the world-famous bronzes in Greece's National Archaeological Museum, such as the 5th-century BC statue of Poseidon hurling his trident found off Cape Artemision, were salvaged from the sea. Statues on land tended to be destroyed or melted down for coins or weapons.

REUTERS