Dispatch 7: Silk Purses from Sows Ears
September 6, 2000
[Note: Nationalgeographic.com does not research or copyedit field dispatches.]
Yesterdays problem has led to todays promise. Two days ago, the
sonar unit on Argus, the expedition teams remotely operated
imaging vehicle flooded. The team has since gamely tried to visually inspect
targets. But theyve been harder to find with the near-sighted ROV.
Finally, Ballard changes tact. Yesterday, he ordered that the team re-deploy the
DSL-120, the side-scan sonar fish.
Why? While reviewing sonar sea floor map data gathered during the teams
initial survey, Ballard glimpsed another ancient river channel. It lies at the far
eastern edge of the expeditions permitted survey area. Ballard hopes to
map this ancient feature. Perhaps signs of ancient settlement will be found there.
At 3:55 a.m. this morning the sonar display in the control room begins to light
up with targets. Data-logger Sam McMurtie later tells me that over the next
hour and a half a constellation of 30-odd targets over a 22-kilometer [13.6-mile]
survey area are identified. Could this be a large-scale settlement?
What intrigues Ballard most is the targets location relative to the
ancient landscapes topography. The targets sit on the rim of a bowl overlooking
an ancient river valley.
[Land-based archaeological work by the expeditions chief archaeologist, Dr.
Fredrick Hiebert from the University of Pennsylvanias Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology, has shown such a topographic feature to be prime real
estate for late neolithic peoples.]
Its now 10:20 a.m. [Normally a decent hour of the day, but in the non-stop
pace of the expedition, it could just as easily be 3 oclock in the morning.] Ballard is in a
belowdecks computer room. His restless energy momentarily tamed, he sits with
his large frame folded in a plastic chair, a can of Coke propped on a knee.
Well it could be trashbut goddarn, its very systematic
trash, Ballard says. Trash is random. This isnt. This has a
complete topographic logic. Thats how we found them. We followed the
Im going in with Argus if its got glaucoma. I
dont care, Ballard says.
Ballard speculates that if those targets represent what he hopes they might
bein best-case scenario, an array of uncommonly well-preserved structures
and artifacts left by peoples from pre-flood settlementtheir significance would
I ask Ballard how such a discovery would compare to others in his career? He names
just one other find: his 1977 discovery of unique ecosystems along deep-water
hydrothermic vents of the Pacific Ocean floor.
Titanic shrinks by comparison, he says softly.
Maybe Ill shed it finally. Ill be more than glad to shed
it. He stands up to leave.
Then again it could all be wild imagination running, Ballard says,
heading toward the door. It could lead to the biggest down of the
Thats a pretty big risk, isnt it? I ask.
Ill take it, Ballard replies.
Go to 1999 Dispatches
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