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Category: Cephalopods
Posted on: July 24, 2007 6:08 PM, by PZ Myers
In a disturbing story, a Korean man fishing for octopus brought several aboard that were clinging to some pottery shards, which led to the discovery of rare 12th century Korean bowls left on the sea floor by a shipwreck.
No word on whether the guardian cephalopods were going to receive a cut of the loot, or even whether they were given a reprieve from being served up for dinner.
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Comments
Posted by: Brownian | July 24, 2007 6:18 PM
That is disturbing. I've been keeping six octopodes on staff for three months now and they've never brought up anything of value.
Posted by: Dave M | July 24, 2007 6:22 PM
"Hoard". Unless there were a heck of a lot of bowls.
Posted by: NelC | July 24, 2007 6:28 PM
Those are very nice-looking bowls, a very fine glaze, considering they've been on the bottom of the sea for 800 years.
Posted by: The Science Pundit | July 24, 2007 7:12 PM
Has it occurred to anyone that those might have been the cephalopod equivalents of creationists? Perhaps they were spreading the lie in the Octopus' Garden that those pottery pieces were really mollusks. They destroyed those ancient relics for their silly superstitions. They don't deserve a cut; they should be sharing a cell with Kent Hovind.
;-D
Posted by: paul | July 24, 2007 7:21 PM
octupus and pirate treasure?
Posted by: GodlessHeathen | July 24, 2007 8:14 PM
The octopuses themselves were the pirates, as all Pastafarians know, there is a correlation between number of pirates and global warming, so this is a real blow to the environment.
Posted by: Eamon Knight | July 24, 2007 9:10 PM
Pah, a disgrace to their species; they deserve to be calamarized. Any proper Tentacled Guardian of Ancient Treasure would have dragged the interloping fishermen screaming from their boat and strangled them. You just can't get good help these days.
Posted by: PalMD | July 24, 2007 9:21 PM
In Korea, there is a tradition of eating live octopus. I prefer a salad, with lemon and olive oil, oregano..mmmm..
Posted by: Sophist, FCD | July 24, 2007 9:29 PM
Far be it from me that I should dispell the romantic and adventurous notion of an ancient shipwreck, but isn't it far more likely that a box of wares just fell over the side of the boat?
Posted by: uncle bob | July 24, 2007 10:27 PM
Nah, just more proof of the Flood...
Posted by: LeeLeeOne | July 24, 2007 10:39 PM
"Pharyngula"...aka Prof. Myers... if no on else sees it, which I am certain more than one blogger does, you have a heart of gold. Recognizing once history is lost (whether it be entwined in tentacles or a ship's anchor), a piece of history is lost and/or open for misinterpretation (which loses humanity). I almost feel a funeral for what has been, and what can never be.
Posted by: PhilK | July 25, 2007 3:37 AM
How come I own a plate for a week and after one run through the dishwasher it comes out chipped and scoured, yet if I'd chucked it into the sea 800 years ago it'd come out looking spanking new?
Posted by: Peter Ashby | July 25, 2007 4:57 AM
Nobody has asked why the octopuses were clinging to the pottery shards. I propose that this fishing expedition has decimated a cephalopod tool using culture. Shame on them.
Posted by: NC Paul | July 25, 2007 8:44 AM
I'm with #13 on this - isn't it obvious that the reason why the "800 year old" bowls are so shiny is because they're recent products of a sophisticated pottery making OCTOPUS CULTURE?
Isn't it?
Anyone?
Hello...?
Posted by: Scotty B | July 25, 2007 9:48 AM
Actually GodlessHeathen (#6), if you had read the Gospel of the FSM more closely, it states that there is an inverse relationship beween number of pirates and global warming, so this actually bodes well for our environment.