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Maritime archaeology (also known as marine archaeology) is a discipline that studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of vessels, shore side facilities, cargoes, human remains and submerged landscapes. One speciality is underwater archaeology, which studies the past through any submerged remains. Another specialty within maritime archaeology is nautical archaeology, which studies vessel construction and use.
Maritime archaeology has three important differences from land archaeology. First structures and artefacts, even organic materials, are sometimes better preserved under water or in bottom sediments especially in freshwater anaerobic environments. A second difference lies in the fact that until recently, submerged sites such as shipwrecks were usually beyond the reach of human intervention or marine salvage, thereby preventing looters from destroying the site. A third difference comes from the fact that shipwrecks (and sites submerged by seismic catastrophes) represent a moment in time rather than a slow deposition of material accumulated over a period of years. This fact has lead to shipwrecks being described as time capsules.
There are those in the archaeology community who see maritime archaeology as a segregrated discipline with its own concerns (such as shipwrecks) and requiring the specialised skills of the underwater archaeologist. Others value an integrated approach, stressing that nautical activity has economic and social links to communities on land.
Integrating Land and Sea
Prior to the industrial era, travel by water was often easier than over land. As a result, marine channels, navigable rivers and sea crossings formed the trade routes of historic and ancient civilisations. For example, the mediterranean sea was known to the Romans as the inner sea because the Roman empire spread around its coasts. The historic record as well as the remains of harbours, ships and cargoes, testify to the volume of trade that crossed it. Later, nations with a strong maritime culture such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Spain were able to establish colonies on other continents. Wars were fought at sea over the control of important resources. The material cultural remains that are discovered by maritime archaeologists along former trade routes can be combined with historic documents and material cultural remains found on land to understand the economic, social and political environment of the past.
Submerged sites
Pre-historic landscapes
Maritime archaeology studies prehistorical objects and sites that are, because of changes in climate and geology, now underwater.Bodies of water, fresh and saline, have been important sources of food for people for as long as we have existed. It should be no surprise that ancient villages weree located at the water's edge. Since the last ice age sea level has risen as much as 250 feet (approximately 75 meters).
Therefore, a great deal of the record of human activity throughout the Ice Age is now to be found under water.
The flooding of the area now known as the Black Sea (when a land bridge, where the Bosporus is now, collapsed under the pressure of rising water in the Mediterranean Sea) submerged a great deal of human activity that had been gathered round what had been an enormous, fresh-water lake.
Significant cave art sites off the coast of western Europe are now reachable only by diving, because the cave entrances are underwater, though the caves themselves are not flooded.
Historic sites
Throughout history, seismic events have at times caused submergence of human settlements. The remains of such catastrophes exist all over the world, and sites such as Alexandria and Port Royal now form important archaeological sites. As with shipwrecks, archaeological research can follow multiple themes, including evidence of the final catastrophe, the structures and landscape prior to the catastrophe and the culture and economy of which it formed a part. Unlike the wrecking of a ship, the destruction of a town by a seismic event can take place over many years and there may be evidence for several phases of damage, sometimes with rebuilding in between.Coastal and foreshore
Not all maritime sites are underwater. There are many structures at the margin of land and water that provide evidence of the human societies of the past. Some are deliberately created for access - such as bridges and walkways. Other structures remain from exploitation of resources, such as dams and fish traps. Nautical remains include early harbours, and places where ships were built or repaired. At the end of their life, ships were often beached. Valuable or easily accessed timber has often been salvaged leaving just a few frames and bottom planking.
Archaeological sites can also be found on the foreshore today that would have been on dry land when they were constructed. An example of such a site is Seahenge, a bronze age timber circle.
Ships and Shipwrecks
The archaeology of shipwrecks can be divided in a three-tier hierarchy, of which the first tier considers the wrecking process itself: how does a ship break up, how does a ship sink to the bottom, and how do the remains of the ship, cargo and the surrounding environment evolve over time? The second tier studies the ship as a machine, both in itself and in a military or economic system. The third tier consists of the archaeology of maritime cultures, in which nautical technology, naval warfare, trade and shipboard societies are studied. Ships and boats are not necessarily wrecked: some are deliberately abandoned, scuttled or beached. Many such abandoned vessels have been extensively salvaged.
Bronze Age
The earliest boats discovered date from the bronze age and are constructed of hollowed out logs or sewn planks. Vessels have been discovered where they have been preserved in sediments. Examples of sewn-plank boats include those found at North Ferriby and the Dover Bronze Age Boat which is now displayed at Dover Museum*. These may be an evolution from boats made of sewn hides, but it is highly unlikely that hide boats could have survived.Ships wrecked in the sea have probably not survived, although remains of cargo (particularly bronze material) have been discovered. A close collecion of artefacts on the sea bed may imply that artefacts were from a ship, even if there are no remains of the actual vessel.
Late bronze age ships, such as the Uluburun have been discovered in the Mediterranean, constructed of edge joined planks. This shipbuilding technology continued through the classical period.
Maritime archaeology by region
Mediterranean area
In the Mediterranean area, maritime archaeology mainly deals with the innumerable retrievals of ancient ages, especially regarding the Roman fleets. The many discoveries in the sea and in some lakes (notably in Nemi, Italy, where Caligula's ships were found) were really helpful in explaining some passages of the history of Romans, Phoenicians and Etruscans, and allowed to track respective presences in the related areas.
Italy is indeed one of the most important areas for these studies, with particular reference to Roman and Etruscan naval activities. Also because of the extremely high rate of expected wrecks (Romans calculated that at least 30% of cargo would have been lost by storms or pirate assaults), the traffic was proportionally (or perhaps more) increased, and many goods were found (ordinarily contained in amphoras or in the larger dolia) that let us understand what the commerce was about. Sometimes, as in the case of the two "bronzi" found in Riace (Calabria), real artworks were brought to the surface. In other cases, like the very recent retrievals in Sarno river (near Pompeii), other details enlarge the knowledge of some interesting elements: this retrieval allows us to suppose in fact that on the Tyrrhenian shore too there were little towns with palafittes, like in ancient Venice. In the same area, the submerged town of Puteoli (Pozzuoli, close to Naples) contains the "portus Julius" created by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in 37 BC, later sunk due to bradyseism.
The Antikythera mechanism, which appears to be an ancient clockwork astronomical computer, was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
But other areas too have no less interest, like the waters around Israel, where Herod the Great's port at Caesarea Palaestina was found. Other finds are consistent with some passages of the Bible (like the so-called Jesus boat, which appears to be similar to those in use during the first century AD).
See also
Submerged historic and pre-historic sites
- Alexandria
- Port Royal
- Port Julius* at Puteoli
Coastal and foreshore archaeology
Ships and Boats
- North Ferriby site of dicovery of bronze age, sewn plank boats dated by radiocarbon to between 1890 BC to 1700 BC
- Uluburun Late bronze age shipwreck, 14th century BC
- Cape Gelidonya Late bronze age shipwreck, c. 1200 BC
- Antikythera c 80-50 BC, includes the astronomical computer, the Antikythera mechanism
External links
General
- Institute of Nautical Archaeology
- Nordic Underwater Archaeology
- Flinders University Maritime Archaeology Program
- A Code of Ethics for Maritime Archaeologists by Australian AIMA
- Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976:]"Shipwrecks" Includes alphabetized list of known wreck sites from Classical Antiquity.
References for Ships and Boats
- Dover Bronze Age Boat article
- Dover Museum home of the Dover Bronze Age Boat
Archaeological sub-disciplines | Diving
Marinarkæologi | Pomorska arheologija | ארכאולוגיה ימית | Marinarkeologi | Marinarkeologi | Pomorska arheologija | Marinarkeologi
"Maritime archaeology"