The Sponge Divers of Greece

Most sponge that nosotros work today are synthetic , but inward the one-time days sponge was collected from the sea bed. Some of the finest-quality sea sponge , a jelly-like marine creature amongst a trunk sum of pores , tin last institute inward the warm waters of southeastern Mediterranean. The ancient Greeks knew close these animals in addition to their usefulness inward scrubbing in addition to cleaning purposes , in addition to for maintaining personal hygiene. Sponge was besides used for padding helmets in addition to for filtering water.

The entire Greek sponge manufacture was centered on a string of islands inward the Aegean Sea , called the Dodecanese Islands. For generations , immature men in addition to their fathers in addition to their forefathers earned their living past times diving for sponges. Traditionally , the sponge was gathered from the body of body of water flooring past times ‘skin diving’ , or costless diving without wearing clothing in addition to without using whatever breathing apparatus. Sponge divers would dive to the bottom of the sea on simply a unmarried breath of air , weighing their trunk downwards past times a slice of apartment rock that weighed upwards to fifteen kg. The heavy rock would drag the naked bodies chop-chop to the bottom. The presence of sponge on the dive site would accept been already verified past times the crew inward a higher house using a cylindrical viewing pipage amongst a drinking glass bottom. Once the diver reached the flooring , he would cutting liberate equally many sponges equally he could in addition to materials them into a mesh bag. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 skilled diver could dive upwards to depths of thirty meters in addition to remain nether H2O for iii to v minutes.

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