00:00I know things aren't going well, but amidst so much unrest, all we want is for this story to be told.
00:05do not go unnoticed.
00:06Because ultimately, it's also worth highlighting the work of scientists who spend months and
00:12months studying the secrets
00:14that are hidden in the pieces of one of Colombia's most popular treasures, that of the mythical San Galleon
00:21José,
00:21that has been somewhere in the Caribbean Sea since June 8, 1708.
00:27After all, beyond the legal battles, the lawsuits, and the greed, this is also a
00:34history of science.
00:36Of crony science, as I like to call it.
00:38Although it starts a decade earlier with some underwater images, you surely remember these images from November 2025
00:46when on a Navy ship they displayed some artifacts that they had just collected from the San José Galleon.
00:53Do you remember?
00:55There were two porcelain cups, along with two other fragments, and three gold coins, or macuquinas, as they were called.
01:03in the 18th century.
01:05They also collected a cannon weighing no more than two tons that was on the San José Galleon.
01:11It turns out that, for about six months, a group of scientists led by the Colombian Geological Survey,
01:18in partnership with IMAR, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, and the Ministry of Cultures,
01:24He set to work to find out what was in those pieces that had been at 600 for three centuries.
01:29meters deep.
01:31They discovered some really cool things after studying them.
01:35Without going into too much detail about the methodology they followed, several of those pieces were taken to the Electron Microscopy Laboratory
01:44of Sweeping, in Bogotá,
01:45which allows us to observe a microscopic world in detail unimaginable to the human eye.
01:51In other words, they managed to see it at a resolution that neither you nor I will ever be able to see.
01:58What did they find? Just a couple of examples.
02:02They discovered that the blue in those porcelains is composed of cobalt and manganese.
02:07These elements give scientists a more accurate idea of where they were manufactured.
02:13Previous studies already suggested that they came from China.
02:18Small details, as the ICAN archaeologist, Carlos del Caerrutado, said,
02:23that provide brutal information about globalization.
02:26They also took the macuquinas, or gold coins, to the same laboratory.
02:30Of course, after escorting them in a couple of police vans.
02:35You know, it's not like Bogotá is the epitome of security.
02:39Among other things, scientists found that although they have a gold matrix,
02:42They are made of an alloy of gold, copper, and silver.
02:46Each one also hides a story of how they were minted,
02:49But I can't elaborate much on this point.
02:52But the biggest surprise was the cannon, which, as you watch this video,
02:57It is submerged in a freshwater pool at the Oceanographic Research Center
03:02and Caribbean Hydrographic Offices of Dimar, in Cartagena.
03:06To remove that salt, you have to be extremely careful.
03:11In the case of this weapon, they took 14 very small surface samples.
03:16to take them to Bogotá to the scanning electron microscopy laboratory.
03:21In addition, they used a technique called portable X-ray fluorescence,
03:27which is like taking samples with a kind of gun that doesn't affect the barrel at all.
03:33But the real surprise of the cannon was a rope that was attached to it.
03:38Or to use the correct term, a cape.
03:41Why, and what did they discover after analyzing it using the popular carbon-14 dating technique?
03:47I invite you all to visit the Science section of El Espectador,
03:51that there are always very fascinating stories of Creole science,
03:56especially when it comes to our submerged cultural heritage in Colombia.
04:02Bye.
04:17Thank you.
04:17Thank you.
04:19Thank you.
