Mearns and his company Bluewater Discoveries Ltd. In 2014, a team of excavators led by marine scientist David L.

The disk was found on a ship called the Esmeralda, which belonged to a fleet led by the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama during his search for a route from Europe to India in 1502-1503. It is also now thought to be the earliest such find from a period known as the European Age of Exploration. Now, thanks to 3D scanning technology, scientists are able to see the small faded measurements etched into the disk-which confirm that it is in fact an astrolabe. When a small, 500-year-old copper disk was discovered among the remains of a shipwreck off the coast of Oman in 2014, archaeologists suspected it was a navigation tool called an astrolabe.