Megalodon tooth necklace spotted in digital scan of Titanic wreck
For more than a century, the necklace has sat at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean following the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, according to the deep water investigation company that carried out the 3D scan.
A team of researchers found a megalodon tooth in the wreckage of the Titanic during a digital scanning of the ship.
(CNN) — A necklace carrying the tooth of a prehistoric shark known as a megalodon has been discovered in the wreckage of the Titanic during a digital scan of the sunken ship.
For more than 100 years, the necklace has sat at the bottom of the ocean following the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, according to Magellan, a deep water investigation company that carried out the scan.
Images from the scan show a gold necklace with a tooth of a megalodon, scientifically known as Otodus megalodon, a prehistoric shark that lived more than 23 million years ago.
A necklace, similar to the one worn by Rose DeWitt Bukater in the film "Titanic," has been discovered in the Titanic's wreckage. Deepwater investigation specialists Magellan has produced the first full-sized digital scan of the luxury liner. During the imaging, cameras picked up a necklace made from the tooth of a Megalodon, a pre-historic shark, with gold jewelry built into it. However, the necklace won’t come to the surface as an agreement between the UK and the US prevents members of the public from removing artifacts from the wreck. (Magellan (@magellangg)/Cover Images)
Megalodons were faster than any shark alive today and big enough to eat an orca in just five bites.
The necklace was discovered by Magellan during a project to produce a full-size digital scan of the Titanic, which the company says is the largest underwater scanning project in history.
Richard Parkinson, CEO of Magellan, said the find was “astonishing, beautiful and breathtaking.”
“What is not widely understood is that the Titanic is in two parts and there’s a three-square-mile debris field between the bow and the stern,” Parkinson told ITV last week. “The team mapped the field in such detail that we could pick out those details.”
Earlier this month, details were released about the project. Magellan and filmmakers Atlantic Productions said at the time that a team of scientists used deep sea mapping to create “an exact ‘Digital Twin’ of the Titanic wreck for the first time.”
The teeth of a megalodon (prehistoric shark) can be seen at the Natural History Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, as seen in this October 2019 photo. (Photo by Christoph Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Scientists managed to “reveal details of the tragedy and uncover fascinating information about what really happened to the crew and passengers on that fateful night” of April 14, 1912, the press release earlier this month said.
The Titanic was the largest ocean liner in service at the time, thought to be nearly impregnable. But it struck an iceberg in the Atlantic and more than 1,500 people died in the sinking, shocking the world and prompting outrage over a lack of lifeboats on board.
Scans of the wreck were carried out in the summer of 2022 by a specialist ship stationed 700 kilometers (435 miles) off the coast of Canada, according to the release. Tight protocols prohibited team members from touching or disturbing the wreck which investigators stressed was treated with the “utmost of respect.”
New 3D scans of the Titanic offer a detailed look at the famed shipwreck resting 3,800 meters below the surface.
The final digital replica has succeeded in capturing the entire wreck including both the bow and stern section, which had separated upon sinking.
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