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'Titanic Wreckage Reveals Necklace Made from Megalodon Shark Tooth'

'Titanic Wreckage Reveals Necklace Made from Megalodon Shark Tooth'
Published 11 months ago on May 30, 2023

Guernsey-based company Magellan Ltd captured footage of the necklace during their expedition last summer, which aimed to digitally scan the shipwreck in unprecedented detail. While other items surrounding the necklace remain unidentified, it was found near a collection of small ring-shaped beads.

Deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd says the necklace is made from the tooth of a megalodon shark with gold built into it

Due to restrictions, Magellan Ltd is unable to retrieve objects from the sea floor where the necklace was discovered. However, the find has garnered significant attention online, with journalists, political commentators, and government officials expressing both praise and criticism for the model's fashion choice.

The megalodon tooth necklace, described by Richard Parkinson, director of Magellan, as "astonishing, beautiful, and breathtaking," holds significance as a symbolic representation of the past. The megalodon, one of the largest fish species to have ever existed, possessed teeth that could grow over seven inches in length.

Teeth of the extinct megalodon - one of the largest fish ever to exist - are known to reach over seven inches in length. The necklace is circled here in red

Paleontologist Catalina Pimiento, an expert in sharks, noted that confirming the tooth as belonging to a megalodon is challenging without other identifiable objects for scale. Tooth coloration can vary due to sediment deposition and location of discovery. Michael Benton, a professor of vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Bristol, suggested that the tooth may belong to a modern shark rather than a fossilized megalodon.

Other objects in the image have not been identified, although it seems to be surrounded by small ring-shaped beads 

The original owner of the necklace, like thousands of personal items found at the Titanic wreck, remains unknown. However, Magellan plans to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the necklace's owner and other objects, with the intention of contacting descendants of the Titanic's passengers. By analyzing footage of passengers boarding the ship before its ill-fated encounter with an iceberg, the AI will focus on their faces and attire, offering potential insights into the necklace's history.

The footage was shot during efforts to capture the first digital scans of the shipwreck, which present the wreck almost as if it's been retrieved from the water. Pictured is the ship's bow, much of which is buried under mud due to the force of impact when it hit the ocean floor in the early hours of April 15, 1912

The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, claiming the lives of approximately 1,517 individuals out of the 2,224 on board. Efforts to digitally survey the entire wreck involved Magellan's submersibles, which spent over 200 hours capturing 700,000 images for a comprehensive 3D reconstruction.

While the retrieval of artifacts from the Titanic's remains is strictly controlled, Magellan's groundbreaking scans and subsequent discoveries aim to shed light on unanswered questions about the ship's tragic fate.

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