Charlotte said. The intact amphoras mapped and tagged on the team’s earlier dives raised hopes for the rest of the cargo’s condition. Those pots and jars were a small part of the cargo. Additional hull removal and deeper access and exploration of the hold revealed the opposite. The top layer of the stacked amphoras lay in a heap, chunks broken from their globular bodies, the rims chipped, the stoppers destroyed. Hundreds of pottery shards were strewn across the grid. The field resembled an earthenware mosaic by Picasso on a bad day. “I see what my assignment in the next few off-seasons will be. There’s years and year’s worth of matching and reassembling to do,” Talat said, sounding weary already. A sympathetic groan traveled through the AGA masks he, Rachel, Charlotte, and Nassor wore. Come September, they’d return home. Talat was a permanent employee of MIAR. When not on a wreck site, he worked in the main conservation lab in Bodrum.
