New images of the Titanic wreckage have revealed a distinct gold necklace made from a Megalodon shark's tooth. The unique artifact was spotted in footage that Magella Ltd., a firm based in Guernsey, took last summer. The footage was taken as part of efforts to snap the shipwreck's first digital scans.
Gold Necklace Spotted in Titanic Wreckage
MailOnline notes that other items around the necklace have yet to be identified. However, the necklace seems to be close to some tiny ring-shaped beads.
The company deployed submersibles to survey certain wreck areas, which sit roughly 13,000 feet below the North Atlantic Ocean surface. Per Newsweek, Magellan took roughly 700,000 shots of the wreckage with two submersibles. They then used these shots to make a full-sized digital scan of the luxury ship.
The team from Magellan was able to find the tooth necklace through the snaps they gathered. Richard Parkinson, CEO of the company, noted that the artifact was breathtaking, beautiful, and astonishing.
The megalodon shark is a huge one that was thought to have gone extinct roughly 3.6 million years ago. In fact, it is considered the biggest shark that has ever existed. Newsweek adds that the earliest known megalodon shark dates back over 20 million years.
Magellan Ltd has been working with Atlantic Productions on a documentary regarding the expedition that took place last year. However, they are prohibited from getting the artifacts from the wreckage.
NDTV reports that the company is hopeful that artificial intelligence (AI) could help in the identification of the artifact's owner and in spotting relatives of this owner. The company is making use of AI and facial recognition to track the footage of the Titanic's passengers in hopes that they will be able to find the owner wearing the necklace. Roughly 2,200 passengers boarded the Titanic when it hit an iceberg and fell into its demise, the Independent reports.
Magellan's scans offer a photorealistic 3D model of the shipwreck with remarkable resolution. Due to how the shipwreck lies deep under the ocean, obtaining a full and comprehensive view of it has been quite difficult. Now, this model made by the Magellan team would enable the public to zoom in and out and examine the whole shipwreck for the first time.
Titanic Wreckage
Per Newsweek, the necklace has not been spotted since the luxury ship sank 111 years ago after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic in April 1912. This led to the deaths of over 1,500 individuals, which is over two-thirds of the ship's total passengers and crew.
The wreckage has been an extensive object of exploration since it was first found in 1985, roughly 650 kilometers off the Canadian coast. However, cameras have been unable to fully capture the shipwreck.
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