I’ve always been fascinated by shipwrecks.  Probably not the most healthy fixation for someone who lived on ships for over 4 years, but I like haunted house stories, too, and I’ve lived in those house things even longer.  My fascination with sunken ships started in elementary school when I first read about USS Yorktown and her sinking at the Battle of Midway in 1942.  Yorktown was found by Doctor Robert Ballard in 1998, sparking my interest in the man and his work.

On November 29th, 60 Minutes ran a two-part segment on the explorer Robert Ballard.  Ballard is always introduced as “the man who found Titanic“, and is so here (although I always think of him as the man who found Yorktown).  The interview shows footage of his research ship, recaps some of his other finds, and covers the in-progress search for ship wrecks in the Aegean sea.

While the ship footage in the 60 Minutes piece is fascinating, I was more drawn to something that was said and not shown.  One of the wrecks currently being excavated is in the Black Sea, has been there for over 1500 years, and due to low oxygen in the water is nearly perfectly preserved.  While the ship itself being in that condition is incredible, Ballard states that he fully expects to find human bodies amongst the wreckage, and just as well preserved.  The thought of them finding an actual, well preserved, human from 1500 years ago boggles my mind.  During my research of the American Civil War era, it’s become blatantly obvious that Americans have undergone marked physical changes in the past 100-200 years (the differences in height alone between the regions of the country were commonly remarked upon in writings), and if Ballard does indeed find his 1500 year old sailors from the other side of the world, I can’t wait to see what they look like, how different they are from us.

Give the video a look, both segments and bonus footage are online and can be viewed HERE.