Underwater Archaeology: Mysteries of the Deep

Discover Pavlopetri (Greece), an ancient city submerged by earthquakes, and find evidence of its great textile industry and trade. Continue with Apollonia (Libya), with its structures and port remarkably preserved underwater. Then, visit Baiae, a sunken Roman resort town with richly decorated villas, and end with Egypt's Thonis-Heracleion and Antirhodos, revealing temples, palaces, and statuary.

See what underwater archaeology can tell us about prehistoric humanity. Learn how coastlines have changed markedly over the millennia and how many early humans lived in areas that are now underwater. Explore underwater sites revealing artifacts, settlements, and human remains in South Africa, Australia, and the Americas, shedding new light on the amazing story of ancient migration.

Visit the sunken city of Port Royal in Jamaica, submerged by an earthquake in 1692, and encounter the many artifacts that portray life in a historic haven for both privateers and pirates. Then, uncover the shipwreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge and learn about the day-to-day life of the fearsome Blackbeard and his pirates. Finish at the Australian wreck of the Batavia, the site of a tragic mutiny.

The history of early Scandinavian peoples is vividly preserved underwater. Explore the remarkable site of the Skuldelev ships, five Viking era ships that were recovered and preserved using cutting-edge methods. Then, view the Mesolithic site of Tybrind Vig, a submerged prehistoric village, and extraordinary finds on Doggerland, a sunken continent that connected Britain to Europe.

Investigate how archaeological work is done in cold and deep water. In arctic waters, find the Erebus and the Terror, two submerged ships lost in the 1840s with artifacts amazingly preserved by the cold and depth. Then, locate the Endurance in the Antarctic, the intact lost ship of the 1914 Shackleton expedition, and the remains of an Ice Age caribou hunting culture in Lake Huron.

Travel to underwater sites containing "ritual deposits," symbolic or religious offerings placed in water. Study Lake Titicaca in the Andes mountains, revealing religious offerings of the Inca and pre-Inca peoples. Uncover lavish votive objects in cenotes (sinkholes) in Mexico and the Caribbean, as well as in peat bogs in Europe, and find evidence of an ancient mortuary cult in Florida.

Encounter the Uluburun, an elite Bronze Age ship found near Turkey, and the ancient Antikythera (Greece), then track the techniques used in their excavations and the astonishing artifacts and history recovered. Then, uncover the warship Vasa (Sweden), renowned for its incredible state of preservation, and the French La Belle (Gulf of Mexico), fascinating time capsules of 17th century life.

Assess the remarkable legacy of lost warships in examples from the American Civil War and World War II. Study the fate and recovery of the Monitor, the Union Navy's first ironclad ship, and the Hunley, the Confederates' groundbreaking submarine. In World War II, trace historic wrecks from the Battle of the Atlantic and major archaeological work focusing on the Pacific's Battle of Saipan.

Chart the phenomenon of changing sea levels and rich underwater finds of human prehistory. Visit Atlit Yam in Israel, a sunken village whose incredible artifacts vividly portray Neolithic life, and the fascinating Mesolithic Bouldnor Cliff site in England. In Europe and Scotland, encounter "pile dwellings" (stilt houses) and crannogs, sophisticated early human settlements on inland waterways.