Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts

Thursday, November 23, 2017

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.

greek-sponge-divers-1Stratis Liadellis

greek-sponge-divers-12Stratis Liadellis

greek-sponge-divers-13Stratis Liadellis

greek-sponge-divers-2

Sponges for sale inward Rhodes , Greece. Photo credit: Joe Ross/Flickr

greek-sponge-divers-5

Loops of sponges at Tarpon Springs , Florida. Photo credit: psyberartist/Flickr

greek-sponge-divers-3

Sponges on the dock. Tarpon Springs , Florida. Photo credit: Walter/Flickr

greek-sponge-divers-4

A memorial to sponge divers inward Tarpon Springs , Florida. Photo credit: Daniel Oines/Flickr

greek-sponge-divers-6

Photo credit: www.seaspongecompany.com

Sources: Wikipedia / www.divingheritage.com / Michael northward Kalafatas / Divernet