Creating photo-mosaics and plans of submerged archaeological sites quickly, cost-effectively and, most importantly, to a high level of geometric accuracy remains a huge challenge in underwater archaeology. This paper describes a system that takes geo-referenced stereo imagery from a diver-propelled platform and combines it with mapping techniques widely used in the field of robotic science to create high-resolution 2D photo-mosaics and detailed 3D textured models of submerged archaeological features. The system was field tested on the submerged Bronze Age town of Pavlopetri off the coast of Laconia, Greece, in 2010. This paper outlines the equipment used, data collection in the field, image processing and visualization methodology.
]]>Recently published reliefs from the causeway of Sahure and a review of contemporary iconography and archaeological data shed new light on a variety of features of Old Kingdom royal sailing boats and equipment, such as quarter rudders, rigging, signalling devices, decorations and crew. Furthermore, another relief depicts men paddling in a sequential or what appears to be a wave pattern. Only one other such relief exists. A comparison of both reveals that they are different boat types. One is a specialized racing boat and the other appears to be a larger boat possibly designed to be rowed.
]]>The Dor 2006 shipwreck was discovered in 2006, 100 m offshore, 800 m south of Dor (Tantura) lagoon. The wooden hull remains included sections of large frames, stringers and ceiling planks, a large number of strakes and wales, some with unpegged mortise-and-tenon joints. Among the finds were ceramic sherds, wooden objects, matting, ropes, food remains, and coins. The shipwreck was dated to between the second half of the 6th and the first quarter of the 7th centuries AD. The wooden components of the hull indicate a large ship compared with other shipwrecks of the period, and the largest ever excavated in the Dor area.
]]>The aim of the article is to show that the Mutiozabal shipyard in Orio, Gipuzkoa, Spain, was using the tools and procedures of non-graphic hull-design methods into the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. These procedures allow a hull to be designed with a very simple set of tools: a template of the master-frame and some simple graduated gauges or graminhos. The plan of a 65-Burgos-foot (18.11 m) trading boat is used as the basis of the study. The nature of the templates and graminhos is shown in detail, as well as their use.
]]>The so-called ship graffiti found inside Catholic churches of the Scando-Baltic region may not only be graffiti. The author suggests that some may have been carved with votive intent in sacred spaces by people without greater means. The reason could have been a particular sea journey feared by sailors or their families. Actual proofs may be difficult to obtain due to the lack of inscriptions stating a particular intention, but in a Gotlandic church one ship image is accompanied by a prayer for what seems to have been its crew. This alternative interpretation appears to be in line with a current archaeological focus on the contextual polysemy of all kinds of ‘prehistoric’ pictures.
]]>Offshore 3D-seismic acquisition has been a standard for high-precision structural imaging in the oil and gas industry for many years. Recently this technique has been adapted by only a few teams to the resolution required for archaeological marine investigation. In contrast to sonar techniques, the 3D-seismic method produces images below the sea-floor. We investigate the harbour of the Viking age proto-town of Hedeby in Northern Germany with the SEAMAP-3D system. SEAMAP-3D allows for rapid acquisition and employs an automated data processing sequence. We observe a wealth of archaeologically relevant detail and compare our results with previous work.
]]>The Projecto de Carta Arqueológica Subaquática do Concelho de Lagos (PCASCL) aimed to locate, identify and protect existing underwater cultural heritage within the district's coastal area. This project was based on a five-phase methodology which included archival research, assessment, survey and conservation. PCASCL resulted in the discovery of five shipwrecks and several artefacts which were added to the Portuguese archaeological record. This also led to the development of a secondary project which focused on one of the five shipwrecks as well as proposals for an underwater archaeological park in Lagos.
]]>Analysis of the pre-disturbance values of the in situ corrosion parameters on historic iron shipwrecks and artefacts has established that the arithmetic product of the pH and corrosion potential is dependent on the burial environment and provides a unique insight into the objects' state of decay. The value of the product changes during in situ conservation treatment with sacrificial anodes, and reaches a minimum at which point the treatment is completed. Treatment times vary with water-depth, being faster on shallower sites and shorter for more extensively corroded artefacts. The model was developed using data from the Duart Point wreck (1653), the Monitor-styled warship HMVS Cerberus (1926) and a series of wrecks in Australia and the USA.
]]>A 13th-century-BC shipwreck site, Hishuley Carmel, is described and discussed. It provides direct evidence for marine transport of copper and tin along the Israeli coast and may indicate inland and maritime trade-routes of metals in the Mediterranean. The shipwreck represents a supply-system providing the demand for bronze in the Levant. Trace-elements and lead-isotope analysis suggest that the copper came from Cyprus, similarly to bun and oxhide ingots from Uluburun. The source of the tin cannot yet be ascertained. The medium-size ship was probably grounded and wrecked during a storm. Some of the cargo may have been salvaged in Antiquity.
© 2012 The Authors
Investigation of shallow-marine environments for submerged prehistoric archaeology can be hampered in many localities by extensive bedrock exposure and thus limited preservation potential. Using the concept of ‘seamless archaeology’ where land-based archaeology is integrated across the intertidal zone through to the offshore, a multi-disciplinary approach is essential. This approach taken in the Bay of Firth, Orkney uses geophysics, historical archive and ethno-archaeology, coastal geomorphology, palaeo-environmental analyses and sea-level science, and allows a clearer understanding of the landscape in which prehistoric settlers lived. While acknowledging the limitations of the preserved environment, we are successful in identifying areas of archaeological potential on the sea-bed for both upstanding structural elements as well as sediment preservation that contains evidence for human occupation. This has wider implications beyond Orkney's World Heritage sites to provide a blueprint for similar studies elsewhere in the coastal zone.
© 2012 The Authors
Between 1998 and 1999 three excavation campaigns were undertaken on a shipwreck at the now-submerged site of the ancient Portus Magnus, off the coast of Alexandria. The site, close to the island of Antirhodos, was identified through geophysical and archaeological surveys carried out by the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio. The remains of the ship lie c.5 m deep and are spread over c.350 sqm. No cargo has been found. Artefacts recovered, the details of the ship's architecture and radiocarbon dating all suggest it sunk between the end of the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Its dimensions correspond to those of commercial ships of the Roman era. Identification of the wood used contributes significantly to our knowledge of materials used in naval architecture of this period.
]]>The Belgammel Ram was found off the coast of Libya in 1964, and examined during 2008–9. The following techniques were used: surface non-contact digitizing using a laser scanner, reflectance transformation imaging using polynomial texture mapping and hemi-spherical harmonics, digital photogrammetry with dense surface modelling, structured light optical scanning, and X-ray fluorescence analysis. For internal structure the ram was examined by X-radiography and 3-D X-ray tomography. Metallurgical composition was studied by micro-drilling and subjecting the samples to scanning electron microscope X-ray micro-analysis, micro X-ray fluorescence and X-ray backscatter. The lead isotope composition was analysed.
The alloy has average percentage composition Cu = 86.9, Sn = 6.3, Pb = 6.6, and Zn = < 0.10. The Belgammel Ram is probably a Hellenistic-Roman proembolion from a small military vessel or tesseraria. The archived data are at the Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Engineering Sciences, Material Data Centre, University of Southampton (muvis@soton.ac.uk).
Within the framework of the activities of the Soprintendenza del Mare of Sicily, a bronze ram was recovered just north of the Straits of Messina, in the area of Acqualadroni. This paper discusses technical and iconographic features of the ram and compares them with others found in Sicily, Piraeus, Tuscany and Athlit. The study shows the Acqualadroni Ram has more analogies with the latter, although it also has unique features. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the ram was used on a warship dating from the mid-2nd century BC. It is therefore possible that the Acqualadroni Ram was lost during the Naulochus battle (36 BC) or during the Civil Wars that gave rise to the rule of Octavian.
]]>Predictions of future requirements for the protection of maritime archaeological sites are made using the fetch method which has been developed to evaluate the quality of landing-places and navigable channels. The very useful method may explain why archaeological sites along the coast are rare in some areas, but numerous in others. Many of them are vulnerable to destruction by the effects of climate change, especially rising sea-levels, based on the IPCC scenarios. The objective fetch method can be used worldwide to predict where new finds of sites close to sea-level can be expected, and also to predict a site's vulnerability.
]]>We report recent fieldwork on an early-16th-century wreck in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. The discovery not only provides new insights into early carvel shipbuilding and its adoption across northern Europe but manifests the changing role of ships and the nature of power and agency in the process of state formation at the dawn of the modern world.
© 2012 The Authors
As part of a larger project promoting the development of historical dendrochronology in the Iberian Peninsula, ship-timbers from the Arade 1 wreck (mostly planking and framing elements), stored at the DANS/IGESPAR in Lisbon, were examined. Of these, 52 samples were identified as deciduous oak (Quercus subg. quercus) and two as chestnut (Castanea sativa). Of 24 timbers selected for dendrochronological research, 23 could be dated, placing the origin of the wood in western France and the felling of trees between AD 1579 and 1583. Their homogeneity suggests they are part of the original construction, which probably took place shortly after AD 1583.
© 2012 The Authors
The South Edinburgh Channel wreck consists of the remains of a large, unidentified armed merchant ship whose cargo included a rare consignment of Swedish plate-money, among other goods. The wreck was lost some time in the later part of the 18th century in the Thames Estuary and was uncovered briefly by natural means between 1972 and 1977. This allowed archaeological investigation, which was undertaken in very poor environmental conditions in the early days of maritime archaeology in the UK.
]]>The Dutch United East India Company ship Zuiddorp vanished on its way to Batavia in 1712 – its last port of call was the Cape of Good Hope. After its wreck was found on the Western Australian coast, archaeological investigations resulted in the retrieval of 21 lead ingots. Recent study of this artefact assemblage, comprising both great pigs and pieces, suggests that they were of north English origin. Historical records indicate that the Dutch procured large quantities of lead from English sources and maritime trade links between English and Dutch ports were well established at the beginning of the 18th century.
© 2012 The Authors
The Akko 1 shipwreck was found in 4 m of water inside the ancient harbour of Akko, Israel, and was fully recorded under water. Several hull-components were retrieved and documented on land, as well as all the finds. The results of the archaeological research and the study of the historical background suggest that the Akko 1 shipwreck is the remains of an eastern Mediterranean naval auxiliary brig, built at the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, and sailing under the Egyptian flag. The ship was apparently wrecked during the 1840 naval bombardment of Akko.
© 2012 The Authors