In the Aegean Sea, a Greek fisherman accidentally caught a bronze torso of a rider over two thousand years old, now sent for restoration. The find again showed how many ancient objects lie on the seabed off Greece and why archaeologists fear mass diving and black archaeologists may destroy them forever. The article also describes other famous sea discoveries, including the Antikythera mechanism, one of antiquitys most amazing artifacts.

Last week, in the nets of a fisherman who was trawling the sea between the islands of Kalymnos and Kos in the eastern Aegean, an unusually heavy object turned up. Specialists to whom the fisherman handed over the find identified it as the torso of a bronze sculpture of a horseman, more than two thousand years old.
Only the torso with the right arm has survived from the statue of a man dressed in a short-sleeved chiton, armor, and a chlamys, as well as the sword on a belt, on which there is a plaque engraved with an image of the ancient Greek goddess of victory, Nike. The find was handed over to the Underwater Archaeology Inspectorate of the Greek Ministry of Culture, where specialists will restore it.
Such finds regularly turn up among local residents: in 2006, another Greek fisherman hauled up a completely intact amphora and several fragments of a bronze equestrian statue in the waters of the Aegean Sea near the island of Kalymnos. Another fisherman from the same island “caught” an invaluable bronze statue in 1994, now known as the “Woman of Kalymnos.” Dating from the Hellenistic period, the beginning of which roughly coincides with the era of Alexander the Great’s rule, it is kept in the Archaeological Museum in Athens.
The Greek authorities pay a reward of 10% of the value of the found artifacts in exchange for their return to the state. Therefore, in this country unique finds have a good chance of ending up in museums and becoming public property.
However, archaeologists are sounding the alarm and fear that antiquities on the bottom of the Aegean Sea may be lost forever, both to Greece and to world science. The reason is the tourism law passed in 2007. In order to attract tourists, the Greek authorities opened most of the Greek coastline - a strip 15,000 km long - to underwater diving, banning scuba diving in only 100 archaeologically valuable sites.
Thus, underwater antiquities have in effect been handed over to be plundered by “black archaeologists.” Tourism companies are not asleep either and are vigorously advertising Greece as an ideal country for treasure hunters.
The concern of Greek scientists is easy to understand: many famous ancient Greek artifacts were found precisely in the sea. One of the most sensational antiquities to become a calling card of Greece is the Antikythera mechanism - the first computer in human history, as some researchers believe. And it was found in the sea off the island from which it took its name.
The mechanism contained a large number of bronze gears in a wooden case, on which dials with hands were placed and, according to reconstruction, it was used to calculate the movement of celestial bodies. No other devices of similar complexity are known in Hellenistic culture. It uses a differential gear, which, as was previously believed, was invented no earlier than the 16th century, and its level of miniaturization and complexity is comparable to 18th-century mechanical clocks.