Underwater archeology - Papers from 2015 to 2022
Authors:
Stein M. Nornes, Martin Ludvigsen, Øyvind Ødegard,
Asgeir J. Sørensen.
This paper presents the results of an underwater
photogrammetric survey of an intact standing steel
wreck with high vertical profiles from the seabed at
60 meters depth. The survey was conducted in
Trondheim Harbour in August 2014 using a Remotely
Operated Vehicle (ROV) equipped with a stereo
camera rig.
Authors:
John W. Foster & Denise Jaffke.
In June 2016 the authors participated in an expedition
by OpenROV to test their mini-Remotely Operated
Vehicle (ROV) in Lake Tahoe at extreme depth and to
capture images of the S.S. Tahoe in her resting
place at 350-475 feet beneath the surface. The
project was carried out by a multi-disciplinary
team, including an online community, using a vehicle
modified for deeper dive operations. The mini- ROV (or
drone) is emerging as a popular vehicle worldwide for
underwater exploration.
Author: Peter Holt Peter Holt
Peter Holt spent 20 years with Sonardyne International
Ltd. designing subsea navigation systems for the oil
industry and military. Between 2010 and 2016 Peter
directed the SHIPS Project, a wide ranging study of the
maritime history of Plymouth funded by the US
research foundation ProMare. Since 1989 Peter has
worked on maritime archaeology projects. He was a
visiting research fellow at Plymouth University from
2010 to 2016, supervising numerous MSc
Hydrography projects each year. Peter is a Chartered
Engineer, a Member of the Chartered Institute for
Archaeologists, a Member of the Hydrographic Society,
a NAS Senior Tutor, he is the NAS south-west regional
co-ordinator and is on the International Shipwreck
Conference organising committee.
Book of Abstracts of ISBSA 14. International Symposium
on Boat and Ship Archaeology Baltic and beyond -
Change and continuity in shipbuilding 21–25
September 2015
Symposium organizer: National Maritime Museum in
Gdansk
Author: Ivor Mollema
The two ships, Bato (1806) and Brunswick (1805)
wrecked in Simons Bay, South Africa, provide an
opportunity to compare British and Dutch maritime
technologies during the Napoleonic Era (1792–1815).
The former was a Dutch 74-gun ship of the line and
the latter a British East Indiaman. Their remains reveal
pertinent information about the maritime technologies
available to each European power.
This document relates a joint maritime archaeological
project between the Australian National Maritime
Museum, Sydney, Australia, and Pusat Penelitian
Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta Selatan 12510, Republik
Indonesia.
Published in 2015 by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de
Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
Authors:
Innes McCartney, Selçuk Kolay, Augusto Salgado, Jorge
Russo, Herni Legoherel, Akifumi Iwabuchi, Guido
Demerre, Gino Deceuninck, Cynrik De Decker,
Nathalie De Hauwere, Ine Demerre, Johan Devolder,
Frank Janssens, Tomas Termote, Patrick Tiersoone, Sven
Van Haelst, Marnix Pieters, John Gribble, Jonathan
Sharfman, Robert Anthony Yorke, Michel L’Hour,
James Delgado, Ole Varmer, Ulrike Guérin, Craig
Forrest, Antony Firth, Mark Dunkley, Andrew Viduka,
Michel Huet, Dirk Timmermans, Pierre Yves-Lepage,
Garry Momber, Amanda Bowens, Franca Cibecchini,
Olivia Hulot, Ingeborg , Svennevig, and Will
Brouwers.
Authors:
Katy Bell, Andrea T. Hamel, Toby Gane, Mark Beattie
Edwards, Peta Knott, Paola Palma, Jessica Berry, Kevin
Stratford, Steve Brown, Robert Lenfert, A. Liddell, M.
Skelhorn, Terence Newman, Peter B. Campbell, Peter B.
Campbell, Derek M. Smith, Jeffrey G. Royal, Christopher
T. Begley, Petra Zdravkovic, Derek Irwin.
This volume came about as a result of a session run at
the (then) IfA conference in Glasgow in 2014 by the
Maritime Affairs Group. The focus of the conference
was ‘research in practice’, in particular, the challenges
that are posed to heritage professionals regarding
value, quality, dissemination, and accessibility of the
archaeological resource. In maritime archaeology, this
can be a particular issue with the additional practical
considerations of allowing access to what is often
underwater or inaccessible.
Author: Andrew Viduka
Most, if not all, Australian states have limited human
and financial resources to protect, document, or
practically manage UCH on a day-by-day basis.
Recognizing these constraints in Australia, early
UCH management activities focused on developing
community groups within each jurisdiction as one of a
series of public engagement mechanisms to protect
UCH sites. In many jurisdictions, successful site
management and protection are directly related to
local community groups’ active engagement and
knowledge. Recognizing that facilitating safe public
access is best practice in UCH management, a focus of
management activity should be on fostering the
development of community-based advocacy groups
who become knowledgable ‘archaeologists’ capable
of supporting heritage management agencies in their
activities.
Authors:
Bill Jeffery, K.Y. Chan, L.H. Li, P.K. Wong, B. Jeffery, S.M.
Chow, W.C. Ho, S.M. Chan.
With contributions from: P. Harrison, S. Heaver, D.
Riach
This book results from a project Recording and
Documenting the Underwater Heritage of Hong
Kong. It was implemented by a small group of Hong
Kong residents (the authors) interested in revealing
underwater cultural heritage sites and histories. It is the
first time Hong Kong’s underwater cultural heritage
has been written up in a manner that is aimed at
informing the Hong Kong community.
Authors:
Peter Veth, Vicki Richards, Cassandra Philippou,
Jennifer Rodrigues, Mark Staniforth, Amer Khan,
Andrew Viduka, Adele Zubrzycka, Peter Harvey, James
Parkinson, Ian MacLeod, Debra Shefi, Anthony Barham
and Dudley Creagh. Contributions by: Brad Duncan,
Cosmos Coroneos, Michael Nash and Kevin Edwards.
The Australian Historic Shipwreck Preservation Project
(AHSPP) has focussed on the reburial and in-situ
preservation of shipwrecks and colonial shipbuilding.
In 2011 researchers identified a number of criteria that
a research site should meet in addressing these topics,
including
1.
the shipwreck must be identified as ‘at-risk’;
2.
the site should be logistically accessible;
3.
the site has been extensively researched,
monitored, and perhaps partially excavated
previously; and
4.
the current managing agency must support the
AHSPP and have the capacity to carry out the
long-term monitoring of the site.
Authors: John McCarthy and Jonathan Benjamin
Project SAMPHIRE (the Scottish Atlantic Maritime Past:
Heritage, Investigation, Research, and Education
Project) was geographically focused on the west coast
of the Scottish mainland and was undertaken between
2013 and 2015, resulting in a large number of new
archaeological discoveries, including ship-wrecks,
aircraft, and other material of a much more varied
nature than what is typically found through large-scale
hydrographic surveys.
Author: Bill Jeffery
This chapter is primarily focused on the submerged
WWII sites in Chuuk Lagoon (formerly Truk Lagoon),
which represents the largest number of sites in
Micronesia (in addition to those in Palau).
Other significant sites in Micronesia including Pohnpei,
Yap, and Guam are addressed briefly.
Authors:
Michael L. Brennan, James P. Delgado,
Larrie D. Ferreiro, Josh Broussard, &
Michael Arbuthnot.
The discovery of the sunken remains of the battleship
USS Nevada (BB-36) by Ocean Infinity and SEARCH Inc.
in 2020 provided the means for documentation, site
mapping, and characterization of a deep-water
shipwreck with an iconic history that spanned half a
century of profound change in the world in response
to two world wars, shifting geopolitics and
technological development that concluded with the
advent of the atomic age.
Authors:
Johannes Reich, Philipp Steiner , Ariane Ballmer, Lea
Emmenegger, Marco Hostettler, Corinne Staheli, Goce
Naumov, Bojan Taneski, Valentina Todoroska, Konrad
Schindler, & Albert Hafner.
This article presents a novel methodology for the
underwater documentation of pile fields in
archaeological lakeside settlement sites using Structure
from Motion (SfM). Mapping the piles of such sites is an
indispensable basis for the exploitation of the high-
resolution absolute chronological data gained through
dendrochronology. In a case study at the underwater
site of Ploca, Micov Grad at Lake Ohrid, North
Macedonia, nine consecutive 10 m2
strips and a 6 m2 excavation section were uncovered,
the situation documented, and the woodpiles sampled.
Author: John Tomkinson
This paper is a historical study of the evolution of
cannons during the 15th century.
Some readers may be surprised with an article that
does not discuss diving. The reason is that cannons are
often elements that can be used to deduct the age of
some wrecks.
Authors:
Izabela Bodus-Olkowska, Grzegorz Zaniewicz, Piotr
Malinski
This paper highlights the synergy between existing
remote sensing technologies and the management of
underwater cultural heritage with examples of
ongoing research projects, such as Malta's approach to
considerations of historical and natural conditions of
site elements. Such an approach allows for the scaling
of sites based on several parameters and provides
instructive information for creating management
strategies.
Authors:
Izabela Bodus-Olkowska, Grzegorz Zaniewicz, Piotr
Malinski
In August 2020, the authors of this paper realized an
interdisciplinary survey of 12 wrecks located and
inventoried earlier as a part of a project Underwater
ethnoarchaeology of the Lower Oder. The survey was
a part of the research on the classification method of
anthropogenic, ferrous, underwater objects based on
magnetic anomaly maps. Data acquisition involved
recording data with an interferometric echosounder,
side-scan sonar, and marine magnetometer.
Authors:
James Hunter, Kieran Hosty
On Thursday 3 February 2022, the museum’s Director
Kevin Sumption PSM hosted a press conference in
which he stated that HMB Endeavour had been
found in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, USA. This was
the culmination of more than two decades of research
by the museum and the Rhode Island Marine
Archaeology Project. The museum’s maritime
archaeologists Kieran Hosty and Dr James Hunter set
out the evidence.
Authors: Kieran Hosty, J& ames Hunter.
In 2014, the Australian National Maritime Museum
(ANMM) received reports from recreational divers that
the shipwreck site of HMAS Perth was being
systematically salvaged by commercial divers. After
extensive discussions with Indonesian government
departments and agencies the ANMM led the first
Australian/Indonesian remote sensing survey of Perth
in December 2016. This was followed by an in-water
survey in May 2017. These investigations revealed
Perth has been devastated by systematic, large-scale
unauthorized salvage.
Author: Allen Donald Wilson
A fine wreck in shallow water” is how W. A. Cockrell
described the Soldier Key Wreck (8DA416, BISC-22)
during the first professional survey of the site in
September 1976. Since that time, three archaeology
field schools and numerous looters have visited the site.
Unfortunately, divers have displaced the ballast from
atop the hull, removed many portable artifacts, and left
the wreck exposed to storms and shipworms….
Authors: JMartin Gibbs & Brad Duncan
Most studies of maritime site formation processes have
concentrated upon the various natural and, to a lesser
extent, cultural processes physically impacting the
remnants of the vessel (the shipwreck) and closely
associated artifacts while ignoring wider influences that
have resulted in the current archaeological record. This
paper explores how cultural processes not only affect
the transformation of a ship into a shipwreck site but
also how continuing human interactions can produce
other archaeological sites that are equally important for
understanding the archaeology of shipwrecks.
Authors: Kieran Hosty & James Hunter
In February 2022, the Australian National Maritime
Museum made two significant announcements
relating to its maritime archaeology program. The first
was the statement from the museum’s former Director
and CEO, Kevin Sumption, that the site of James Cook’s
famous vessel, His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour, had been
positively identified following a 22-year program of
fieldwork and research in Newport Harbor, Rhode
Island.
The second major announcement was the launch of
an innovative new web experience by The Hon Paul
Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Urban
Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts.
The documents are classified chronologically.
Click on their descriptions to open and download them.
Authors: Steven Anthony and James Smailes
The Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society
(MAHS) is organized for the purpose of enhancing
public awareness and fostering appreciation for the
significance of historic shipwrecks and other
underwater cultural heritage. Our mission is to
preserve our maritime heritage, and our members
volunteer to participate in underwater archaeology
expeditions around the world.
Authors: Sarah Madden
On March 20, 1980, a local fisherman discovered a
wreck in Østerby Harbor on the island of Læsø,
Denmark. Along with timbers from two separate
shipwrecks, two cannons were also lifted from the
harbor.
Investigation showed that one set of timbers belonged
to a fishing ship from the 1930s. However, the other
timbers were far older, and there were no recollections
in the collective town memory of an older ship having
sunk there.
Authors: Hunter Weatherly Whitehead
Two F8F Bearcat wreck sites are discussed here,
including the methods involved in aircraft investigation
and the historical documents referenced for their
identification. Utilizing photogrammetric modeling
techniques, the author tests the applicability of
photogrammetry as an in situ site-monitoring tool.
Author: William Joseph Wilson
Nautical archaeologists emphasize the study of
formation processes and understanding the natural
environments of the sites they are studying. Most
notably, this approach has been used to understand
the spatial relationships and presence or absence of
artifacts (Muckelroy 1977). Although very useful for the
interpretation of wreck sites, this approach leads to a
focus on the end-product attributes of site formation
rather than the processes, thus acting as mere
descriptions of formation processes for use as
explanatory devices (Ward et al. 1999:561).
Authors: Sean A Kingsley
Under the banner of the UNESCO Convention on the
Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage,
current management embraces the in situ preservation
of wrecks as optimum practice.
This article addresses what the UNESCO protocol
intends, highlights inconsistencies and suggests the
concept of in situ preservation needs to evolve to
maintain relevance.
Author: Nathan Richards
The remnants of deliberately discarded watercraft have
been a subject of maritime historical and
archaeological inquiry for some time. Studies of ships
re-utilized as ancient boat burials (such as the Snape
Boat), votive offerings, or transformed into foundations,
and many types of alternate structures and buildings
are well-known in maritime archaeological literature.
Authors:
Jean-Sébasien Guibert, Franck Bigot, Magali Lachèvre,
Jean-Jacques Maréchal, Marine Sadania, Noémie
Tomadini, Magali Veyrat
In 2015, an initial archaeological campaign tentatively
identified the Saintes Bay Wreck as the Anémone, a
French schooner built in 1823 in Bayonne. The
Anémone was used as a customs ship in Guadeloupe
before it was lost in Saintes Bay in September 1824
during a hurricane (Guibert 2013). The authors
returned in July 2016 as part of the French West Indies
University research program. Our goal was to gain a
thorough understanding of the site in hope of
confirming the wreck’s identity.
Authors: Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé
For the past ten years, a group of international scholars
has been working on a multi-language glossary for
early modern Iberian ships, a preliminary version of
which was recently published on the Academia
website. The project was conducted under Dr. Filipe
Castro's supervision of the J. Richard Steffy Ship
Reconstruction laboratory at Texas A&M University
originated from the Nautical Archaeology Digital
Library (NADL) Project 1. A multilingual glossary was a
central tool in the NADL that allowed the collection
and interpretation of archaeological data stored in
different formats.
Authors: Andrew Viduka and Grant Luckman
This article briefly outlines underwater cultural heritage
artifact management in Australia from an unregulated
collecting environment in the 1940s – 1960s to the
increasingly regulated environment of the present. In
1993, in conjunction with new legislation, an amnesty
was declared in order to inventory artifacts collected
from now-protected historic shipwrecks that were in
private hands. The amnesty period
concluded with approximately 20,000 artifacts noticed at
a time when information was being stored in a range of
formats and to different
standards
Authors: IA Kirichenko, I B Starchenko, V Y Vishnevezkiy,
A I Markolia, I I Sizov, and T P Strochan
The shallow water environment is one of the most
dynamic elements, subject to rapid sedimentary flows
and of significant interest to human activities. This
environment pose severe challenges due to shallow
water, strong waves, strong currents, large tidal range,
and fine gas, which restrict sound penetration. To
optimize the characteristics of acoustic profiler with a
parametric transmitting array in the scope of
underwater archeology and monitoring of underwater
engineering objects, theoretical studies of the influence
of real conditions on the work of parametric hydro-
acoustic systems and of the marine soils and bottom
sediments features are presented in this study.
Public access to underwater and maritime cultural
heritage has proven to have a very positive effect on the
local economy. This type of heritage is very attractive for
the cultural tourism sector in general and active and
diving tourism. The Nautical and Underwater
Archeology Line of the University of Cadiz, within the
framework of the TIDE Project and Herakles Project,
have been working on the enhancement of maritime
and underwater heritage through the application of
new technologies. This paper presents the advances in
the project in the Strait of Gibraltar, based on the first
phase of scientific analysis and the defnition of a
common working methodology with resulted in a
toolkit for the development of tourism activities.
Authors:
David A. Plecher, Leonard Keil, Guy Kost, Max
Fiederling, Christian Eichhorn, and Gudrun Klinker
Virtual Reality (VR) technology is becoming an
increasingly helpful tool for entertainment and
education. Its potential to simulate hard-to-reach
environments and emulate unique experiences
believably is of great interest for the scientific study of
Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH), particularly for
the simulation of real-world dives. Virtual Reality
enriched with techniques from immersive Serious
Games (SG) provides an authentic way to enjoy
Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH). This paper
focuses on exploring the wreck of a Roman merchant
ship from the 5th century AD, which was found near
Veliki Piruzi (Croatia).
Authors: Shadrin N. V.
This essay gives brief preliminary overview of his
contribution in marine biology and underwater
archeology of the Black Sea,
study of nature and people of Abkhazia in the 19th
century.
Authors: A E Goncharov, D M Mednikov, N M Karelin, I
R Nasyrov
Current progress in underwater archeology is based
on a rich arsenal of high-tech appliances, among
which sonar technology plays a key role; it enables
scientists not only to detect submerged archeological
objects, but to examine them in high definition
without having to conduct diving operations or use
expensive underwater unmanned vehicles.
Publisher: UNESCO
This model code of practice has been drafted by the
UNESCO UNITWIN Network for Underwater
Archaeology, following on from the Network’s annual
meeting in 2016 at UNESCO in Paris. The Network
identified a lack of consistent practices and a need for
common language related to scientific archaeological
diving by its members as a way to reduce barriers to
international partnerships working. This document is
non-prescriptive, and its use is voluntary. It does not
supersede any national, local or institutional policy
related to scientific archaeological diving.
Authors:
Joanne Edney, Kay Dimmock, and William E. Boyd
Successful underwater heritage management requires
a sound understanding of visitor behavior. Primary
visitors to underwater heritage sites are divers whose
behavior can pose risks to the integrity of the
site’ cultural heritage and tourism values. This study
seeks to understand wreck diver in-water behavior.
Authors:
I A Kirichenko, I B Starchenko, V Y Vishnevezkiy, A I
Markolia, I I Sizov, and T P Strochan
The results of theoretical studies of the influence of real
conditions on the work of parametric hydro-acoustic
systems and of the marine soils and bottom sediments
features are presented in this study to solve the problem
of optimizing the characteristics of acoustic profiler with
a parametric transmitting array in the scope of
underwater archeology and monitoring of underwater
engineering objects.
Author: Kim Kisner
This article defines the long and complex research
implemented to find the locations of two World War II
shipwrecks: The German raider Kormoran and the
Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney.
Authors:
Rachel D. Moseley, Justyna J. Hampel, Rachel L. Mugge
and Leila J. Hamdan
The objective of this work was to investigate how
historic wooden-hulled shipwrecks impact the dispersal
of wood-colonizing microbial Biofilms. The study
addressed how proximity to wooden shipwrecks
shapes diversity, richness, and community composition
in the surrounding environment. Study sites included
two historic shipwrecks in the northern Gulf of Mexico
identified as wooden-hulled sailing vessels dating back
to the late 19th century.
Authors:
Tomas Fernandez-Montblanc, Manuel Bethencourt,
and Alfredo Izquierdo
This paper presents a novel Underwater Cultural
Heritage (HCH) risk assessment methodology to
quantitatively assess the impact of wave-induced
hazards on UCH in coastal environments at a local
level and the screening of UCH sites at risk. The UCH
risk is calculated as a function of vulnerability
(depending on archaeological materials, slope, and
seabed type), hazard (decontextualization, scouring,
and erosive wear), and exposure, computed for the
UCH sites registered in an archaeological database.
Authors:
David A. Plecher, Leonard Keil, Guy Kost, Max
Fiederling, Christian Eichhorn, and Gudrun Klinker
Virtual Reality (VR) enriched with techniques from
immersive Serious Games (SG) provides an authentic
way to enjoy Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) and
the sport of diving from the comfort of the user ’ s
home or as a museum exhibit. This paper focuses on
the exploration of the wreck of a Roman merchant ship
from the 5th century AD, which was found near Veliki
Piruzi (Croatia).
Author: Xianglong Chen
This paper presents an overview of the history of the
radiocarbon dating technique and its significant
applications in Chinese archeology, focusing on the
transition from B-decay counting to accelerator mass
spectrometry.
