|
|
Sultan's Lost Treasure
|
|
|
|
Program Overview
|
|
|
NOVA follows archeologist Michel L'Hour and his team as they attempt
to salvage an ancient shipwreck in one of the largest marine
archeological projects ever undertaken.
The program:
-
tracks divers as they descend 197 feet (60 meters) to place
large metal grids on the ocean floor around the wreck, which
will enable archeologists to plot the site.
-
notes that the shipwreck lays at the center of what used to be a
vast trading network that included ports in China, Thailand,
Vietnam, and Borneo.
-
traces the first of China's seven great 15th-century trading
expeditions.
-
relates reasons why China decided to decrease its maritime
presence and limit foreign trade.
-
details how more than 15,000 different items were recovered,
many with origins in different ports of late 15th-century Asia.
-
depicts how artifacts are restored, dated, and catalogued.
-
includes a computer simulation of what the ship originally might
have looked like, and how its items have been distributed.
-
notes that many years of continued research on the artifacts is
necessary before all the items will be identified and
catalogued.
|
|
