Courier-Journal article profiles John Hale '69

Thanks to Charlie Fothergill for pointing me toward this fascinating article in Sunday's Courier-Journal. The story's a profile of archaelogist and alumnus John Hale '69, who's just published a book based on his research in underwater archaelogy. John's a fascinating guy, and his previous research on the Oracle of Delphi was the subject of a Connections feature a few years ago. From the Courier:

Hale and his colleagues were combing the bottom of Greek waters with Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) or robots for signs of the king of Persia's 300 ships that ancient records said were lost in a storm about 492 B.C. Because of active sediments, the team was starting to realize it would be very hard to find anything when the 'eye' of a robot beamed an image of a pot back to the ship. At the direction of those on board, the robot shined a light inside the pot, catching a green gleam. Out of the water, the team discovered the green object was the bronze spike of a spear shaft.

'The really exciting things were: A) It was in perfect condition; and B) It was from the same period of the wreck we were looking for,' Hale said.

What they couldn't figure out is how it got there. So they went back for the pot with the submersible. Once on deck, an octopus emerged from the pot, where it had been living. The sea creature had used the spear to ward off intruders, said Hale.