Maritime archaeology is a discipline within archaeology as a whole that specifically studies human interaction with the sea,lakes and rivers through the study of associated physical remains,be they vessels,shore-side facilities,port-related structures,cargoes,human remains and submerged landscapes. A specialty within maritime archaeology is nautical archaeology,which studies ship construction and use.
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately three million shipwrecks worldwide as of January 1999,according to Angela Croome,a science writer and author who specialized in the history of underwater archaeology.
The Uluburun Shipwreck is a Late Bronze Age shipwreck dated to the late 14th century BC,discovered close to the east shore of Uluburun,Turkey,in the Mediterranean Sea. The shipwreck was discovered in the summer of 1982 by Mehmed Çakir,a local sponge diver from Yalıkavak,a village near Bodrum.
The Kyrenia Ship is the wreck of a 4th-century BC ancient Greek merchant ship. It was discovered by Greek-Cypriot diving instructor Andreas Cariolou in November 1965 during a storm. Having lost the exact position,Cariolou carried out more than 200 dives until he re-discovered the wreck in 1967 close to Kyrenia (Keryneia) in Cyprus. Michael Katzev,a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,directed a scientific excavation from 1967 to 1969. Katzev later became a co-founder of the American Institute of Nautical Archaeology. The find was extensively covered in a documentary by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation titled "With Captain,Sailors Three:The Ancient Ship of Kyrenia". The ship itself was very well preserved with more than half its hull timbers in good condition. After it was raised from the seabed,it found a new home at the Ancient Shipwreck Museum in Kyrenia Castle,where it remains on exhibit.
The year 1998 in archaeology involved some significant events.
The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) is a charity registered in England and Wales and in Scotland and is a company limited by guarantee.
The archaeology of shipwrecks is the field of archaeology specialized most commonly in the study and exploration of shipwrecks. Its techniques combine those of archaeology with those of diving to become Underwater archaeology. However,shipwrecks are discovered on what have become terrestrial sites.
Mensun Bound is a British maritime archaeologist born in Stanley,Falkland Islands. He is best known as director of exploration for two expeditions to the Weddell Sea which led to the rediscovery of the Endurance,in which Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 men sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The ship sank after being crushed by the ice on 21 November 1915. It was rediscovered by the Endurance22 expedition on 5 March 2022.
The Vũng Tàu shipwreck is a shipwreck that was found in the South China Sea off the islands of Côn Đảo about 100 nautical miles from Vũng Tàu,Vietnam. The wreck was of a lorcha boat—a vessel with Cantonese/Chinese and Portuguese/European influences that has been dated to about 1690. It was found by a fisherman who had picked up numerous pieces of porcelain from the wreck while fishing. Sverker Hallstrom identified the wreck and its cargo in 1990. Australian diver Michael Flecker took charge of the archaeological aspect of the excavation. An analysis of its cargo deduced that the ship was bound from China to Jakarta,Indonesia,where the porcelain would have been purchased by the Dutch East India Company for trans-shipment to Holland.
Joan Mabel Frederica du Plat Taylor FSA was a British archaeologist and pioneer of underwater nautical archaeology.
Heracleion,also known as Thonis and sometimes called Thonis-Heracleion,was an ancient Egyptian port city located near the Canopic Mouth of the Nile,about 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea. It became inundated and its remains are located in Abu Qir Bay,currently 7 km (4.3 mi) off the coast,under ca. 19 ft (5.8 m) of water,and near Abukir. The sanctuary of Neith of Sais was located in Thonis. A stele found on the site indicates that late in its history the city was known by both its Egyptian and Greek names.
The Dokos shipwreck is the oldest underwater shipwreck discovery known to archeologists. The wreck has been dated to the second Proto-Helladic period,2700–2200 BC.
The Quanzhou Ship (泉州湾古船),or Quanzhou wreck,was a 13th-century Chinese seagoing sailing junk that sank near the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province,and was discovered in 1973. It remains one of the most important marine archaeology finds in China,and is an important piece of physical evidence about the shipbuilding techniques of the Song China and the international maritime trade of the period.
Honor Frost was a pioneer in the field of underwater archaeology,who led many Mediterranean archaeological investigations,especially in Lebanon,and was noted for her typology of stone anchors and skills in archaeological illustration.
Discovered by divers from the French Navy Diving School in 1967,the archaeological investigations of the Roman wreck at Madrague de Giens constituted the first large scale,"truly scientific underwater excavation[s] carried out in France". The wreck lies at around 18 to 20 metres depth off the coast of the small fishing port of La Madrague de Giens on the Giens Peninsula,east of Toulon,on the southern Mediterranean coast of France. Sunk around 75–60 BCE,the vessel has been found to be "a large merchantman of considerable tonnage—400 tons deadweight with a displacement of around 550 tons",making it one of the largest Roman wrecks excavated,with only the wreck at Albenga,Italy exceeding it at the time of its discovery. The vessel wrecked at Madrague de Giens measured around 40 metres in length;has a "wine glass" section which would have given better ability to sail to windward;displayed extended raking of the stem and stern;and had two masts. The hull was characterised by a reverse stempost in the shape of a ram with a big cutwater which "must have given... [the] craft high-performance sailing qualities". The ship sank while transporting a large cargo of wine and black glazed pottery from Italy. It is not known why it sank.
Maritime archaeology in East Africa spans the range from the horn of Somalia south to Mozambique,and includes the various islands and island chains dotting the map off the coast of Somalia,Mozambique,Tanzania and Kenya. Primary areas along this coast include the Zanzibar,Lamu,and Kilwa Archipelagos. Although East African societies developed nautical capabilities for themselves,most of the maritime artifacts point to external merchants from Mediterranean cultures like Egypt and Greece,Indian and Chinese from South and East Asia in the early stages,to the great European powers during the Ages of Colonization and Imperialism.
The Kennemerland was a Dutch East Indiaman that was lost off the Out Skerries,Shetland,in 1664. It was carrying cargo from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies,and had taken the northern route to avoid interception by the English,since the Second Anglo-Dutch War was expected to start soon. There were just three survivors. The islanders salvaged what they could,but there were disputes over ownership of the spoil. The vessel's excavation in the 1970s was one of the earliest exercises in the new discipline of maritime archaeology.
The Gozo Phoenician shipwreck is a seventh-century-BC shipwreck of a Phoenician trade ship lying at a depth of 110 meters (360 ft). The wreck was discovered in 2007 by a team of French scientists during a sonar survey off the coast of Malta's Gozo island. The Gozo shipwreck archaeological excavation is the first maritime archaeological survey to explore shipwrecks beyond a depth of 100 meters (330 ft).
Elpida Hadjidaki or Chatzidaki is a Greek marine archaeologist specializing in ancient shipwrecks and harbor towns. She grew up in coastal Chania and was interested in maritime history from an early age. Hadjidaki learned to dive shortly after finishing high school. She has investigated multiple archaeological sites,including the Peristera shipwreck,a Minoan shipwreck near Pseira,and the ancient harbor town of Phalasarna.
Archaeological diving is a type of scientific diving used as a method of survey and excavation in underwater archaeology. The first known use of the method comes from 1446,when Leon Battista Alberti explored and attempted to lift the ships of Emperor Caligula in Lake Nemi,Italy. Just a few decades later,in 1535,the same site saw the first use of a sophisticated breathing apparatus for archaeological purposes,when Guglielmo de Lorena and Frances de Marchi used an early diving bell to explore and retrieve material from the lake,although they decided to keep the blueprint of the exact mechanism secret. The following three centuries saw the gradual extension of diving time through the use of bells and submersing barrels filled with air. In the 19th century,the standard copper helmet diving gear was developed,allowing divers to stay underwater for extended periods through a constant air supply pumped down from the surface through a hose. Nevertheless,the widespread utilisation of diving gear for archaeological purposes had to wait until the 20th century,when archaeologists began to appreciate the wealth of material that could be found under the water. This century also saw further advances in technology,most important being the invention of the aqualung by Émile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau,the latter of whom would go on to use the technology for underwater excavation by 1948. Modern archaeologists use two kinds of equipment to provide breathing gas underwater:self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA),which allows for greater mobility but limits the time the diver can spend in the water,and Surface-supplied diving equipment,which is safer but more expensive,and can only be used in shallower waters.
