Current theory says that during the Ice Age, the Black Sea was an isolated freshwater lake surrounded by farmland that was eventually flooded. Several special vehicles were used in the recent Black Sea research. Students will learn how these vehicles operate and will describe their purpose in this particular study by writing newspaper articles pretending they have just returned from the Black Sea expedition.

Geography, world history

Standard 17: "How to apply geography to interpret the past"

Three hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Wall map of the world
• Writing and drawing materials

Students will

• discuss the story of the biblical flood and the theory of how the flood may have occurred;
• discuss how they would look for evidence of this flood;
• draw pictures and write text explaining the roles of ships and other vessels in investigating the flood theory in the Black Sea;
• read an article about the Black Sea researchers' findings and discuss the role of special equipment in making these discoveries; and
• write newspaper articles pretending they have just returned from the Black Sea expedition and describing the roles of the equipment they have used.

Ask students to summarize the biblical story of the Great Flood and Noah's ark. Then explain that this flood story has appeared not only in the Bible but also in stories from a variety of world cultures. Share with the class a few examples from National Geographic's Black Sea feature.

Provide an overview of the current theory that's being investigated in the Black Sea. Refer to a world map as you point out what this theory suggests may have happened.

Ask students to imagine that they have been assigned the task of looking for evidence of this flood. Where would they look? What techniques might they use, and what evidence might they look for? Discuss their ideas as a class.

Students should understand that researchers are most interested in finding evidence of ancient human habitation under the Black Sea. This evidence would support the theory that the area covered now by the Black Sea was once dry land and a freshwater lake.

Ask students to hypothesize the ways that the team could look for evidence of ancient human habitation under the Black Sea. What types of equipment would they need?

Write the names of these vessels on the board: Northern Horizon, DSL-120 ("fish"), Argus, and Little Hercules. Explain that these are the vessels the research team used to explore the Black Sea. The Northern Horizon is the ship the scientists and their equipment traveled on, the DSL-120 is the side-scan sonar vessel used to map the seafloor, and the Argus and Little Hercules are the remotely operated vehicles that the team used to take pictures of objects on the seafloor.

Have students go to the Dive and Discover site to see a picture and description of sonar being used to map the ocean floor. Explain that the ship sends sound waves down to the ocean floor (just like the sound waves that leave their mouths when they scream across a canyon or down a long corridor, for example). Then the waves bounce back to the ship (just as echoes bounce back to our ears) in patterns and are transformed by a computer into a "picture" that shows the different patterns of the ocean floor.

Have students go to the Black Sea feature and read Dispatches 3 and 4 from the 2000 expedition. In these dispatches, the team discusses its use of the DSL-120 and Argus. Ask students to explain why the DSL-120 is called the "ears" and the Argus is called the "eyes" of the expedition. Explain that Argus's partner, Little Hercules, was also used to take pictures, frequently in tandem with Argus. See the CNN article, "Ancient Ship Found Well-preserved in Black Sea" for a brief description of these vehicles.

Have students follow these directions to learn about the side-scan sonar (the DSL-120) and remotely operated vehicles (Argus and Little Hercules) that the team used. Ask them to do the following as they view the pictures and read the text.

• Draw a picture of the Northern Horizon. Leave room at the bottom and sides of the page to draw pictures of the DSL-120 and the Argus and to write some sentences.
• Go to the MIT DeepArch Research Group site and look at the picture of the DSL-120 being lowered into the water. Draw a picture of the DSL-120 next to or underneath your picture of the Northern Horizon.
• On the same Web page, look at the pictures of Little Hercules and Argus. Draw pictures of these vehicles underneath the ship.
• Go to the Dive and Discover site and click on "Join the current expedition." First click on "About the Cruise" and then "Oceanographic Tools" (at the top). Finally click on the DSL-120 to see the side-scan sonar device that was used in the Black Sea.
• At the bottom of your drawing, write two or three sentences explaining how the DSL-120 works and what it will be used for.
• Go back to the main Oceanographic Tools page, and click on Jason to learn about a remotely operated vehicle that's similar to Argus and Little Hercules.
• At the bottom of your drawing, write two or three sentences explaining how the remotely operated vehicles work and what they will be used for.

Have students read the CNN article about recent Black Sea discoveries to learn about some of the things the expedition discovered. Ask them to list these discoveries.

Discuss the ways that the equipment and techniques students have learned about could be helpful in searching for evidence of ancient human civilizations at the bottom of the Black Sea. What is the role of the side-scan sonar and remotely operated vehicles? What types of things could each type of vehicle find?

Ask students to imagine that they have just returned from a month exploring the Black Sea for evidence of the Great Flood. Their local newspaper has asked them to provide a summary of their experience, focusing on the equipment they took and how this equipment was used. Have them write articles that include

• a brief summary (one paragraph) of the flood theory and what they are looking for underneath the Black Sea;
• a description of the vehicles they used to study the Black Sea and why each vehicle is useful;
• a summary of their findings; and
• pictures taken from the remotely operated vehicles.

Students can use the MIT DeepArch Research Group site and CNN's Ancient Shipwreck Gallery for some examples.

Have students design a new type of undersea vehicle that they think would provide further assistance in the Black Sea research. They should think about the limitations and problems associated with the vehicles that have already been used (see Dispatch Five from the Black Sea expedition) and design vehicles that improve upon this equipment.

DeepArch Research Group, MIT: Technology, Archaeology, and the Deep Sea
National Geographic: Ballard and the Black Sea—The Search for Noah's Flood
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Dive and Discover