Jacques Cousteau and his crew relaxing around a table with wine bottles and cigarettes inside the "Starfish House" underwater habitat during the 1963 Conshelf II expedition in the Red Sea... In 1963, Jacques Cousteau launched Conshelf II, one of the most ambitious underwater living experiments ever attempted. Built in the Red Sea near Sudan, the project tested whether humans could live and work beneath the ocean for extended periods without constantly returning to the surface. The underwater habitat sat roughly 30 feet below sea level, while deeper research stations extended even farther down. The men inside became known as “oceanauts.” They spent weeks underwater eating, sleeping, smoking, drinking wine, conducting experiments, and exploring the seabed using early diving technology and small submersibles. Cousteau believed underwater habitats could eventually become as important as space stations, with permanent human communities one day living beneath the sea. Conshelf II included a tiny underwater “garage” for Cousteau’s diving saucer submarine, and one crew member even kept a pet parrotfish inside the habitat for companionship during the mission. #archaeohistories