Underwater Archaeology

The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice

Amanda Bowens, Amanda Bowens

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781444358315
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technologie et ingénierie
• Subtopic: Agriculture

Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice provides a comprehensive summary of the archaeological process as applied in an underwater context.

• Long awaited second edition of what is popularly referred to as the NAS Handbook
• Provides a practical guide to underwater archaeology: how to get involved, basic principles, essential techniques, project planning and execution, publishing and presenting
• Fully illustrated with over 100 drawings and new colour graphics
• New chapters on geophysics, historical research, photography and video, monitoring and maintenance and conservation

1

The NAS Handbook – Why It Was Written

The original Archaeology Underwater: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice was first published in 1992. It was commissioned to help address a scarcity of information about ‘how to undertake archaeological work under water while maintaining acceptable standards’ (Dean et al., 1992:2).

As well as explaining fundamental archaeological principles, this book provides a general introduction to archaeology under water, detailing techniques and practices as they are applied in an underwater context. It provides the tools appropriate to tackle a variety of sites in different environments and emphasizes that archaeology is not just a set of techniques - it is shaped by fundamental principles and theoretical parameters. While this book is a comprehensive source of practical information, it is not a complete reference book and will not transform the reader into an underwater archaeologist. Its aim is to provide an awareness of the responsibilities that go with any form of fieldwork while outlining what is involved in achieving an acceptable standard of archaeological work in what can often be a challenging physical environment.

In the intervening years since the publication of the first edition, while the basic principles have remained the same, technological developments have resulted in new and improved archaeological techniques. Meanwhile, the World Wide Web and satellite television have helped take underwater archaeology into peoples’ homes, feeding what appears to be an insatiable public appetite for all things associated with the past. In addition, links between countries with different approaches to archaeological investigation have strengthened and, as a result, the toolbox of techniques for archaeological work under water has grown.

In the light of such developments, an update to the text and graphics of the original book seems timely. The result is this long-awaited second edition of what is popularly referred to as ‘The NAS Handbook’.

The body that eventually became the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) was originally incorporated and registered as a charity in 1972 under the name (The) Nautical Archaeology Trust Limited. The Trust was reconstituted in 1986 as the Nautical Archaeology Society, mainly to oversee the production of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (IJNA), the first volume of which had been published in 1971, and more generally to further research. The Society is committed to the research, conservation and preservation of maritime cultural heritage. The NAS is based in the United Kingdom but has a significant international profile. Membership is made up of a wide range of people who wish to promote and be involved in the preservation of their coastal and underwater heritage, in its broadest sense.

This second edition of Underwater Archaeology includes several new chapters covering such topics as photography, legislation and conservation. Additional chapters reflect significant developments or new approaches, particularly with respect to project planning, safety on archaeological sites, historical research, monitoring and maintenance and geophysics.

Each individual component of this book was written by someone who is an expert in his/her field. The production of this second edition has been a long iterative process involving many people, most of them members of the Nautical Archaeology Society. Text from the original book has been modified, supplemented and, where appropriate, replaced. This book therefore owes its existence to everybody involved in the production of this and all previous versions (please see the list of contributors in the acknowledgements). The Nautical Archaeology Society would like to acknowledge all contributors with grateful thanks.

The Nautical Archaeology Society would also like to introduce the reader to the real underwater treasure - a rich cultural heritage that has helped shape the world in which we live today. By outlining the principles and practices of maritime archaeology, this book will enable people to make informed and responsible decisions about how to get the most from their involvement with maritime archaeology above or under water.

2

Underwater Archaeology

Contents

What is archaeology?

What is archaeology under water?

What is not archaeology under water?

Closely related and complementary approaches (ethnography and experimental archaeology)

This chapter provides a short definition of what constitutes archaeology and an archaeological approach. It will briefly summarize the development of underwater archaeology as a distinct sub-discipline and consider some significant relationships between archaeology and other approaches and activities.

WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY?

Archaeology is concerned with the identification and interpretation of physical traces left by past ways of life. Archaeology is not just description, however; its primary aim is explanation. The process of archaeological investigation is similar to the detective work of police and forensic scientists. All traces, however unexciting or irrelevant they may at first appear, have the potential for providing a vital clue to understanding what happened before the detective or archaeologist arrived.

Evidence for the past survives both on land and under water, but the demarcation of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ sites is complicated by the fact that boundaries change. Some areas that used to be sea-bed are now land while some areas that were once land are now under water. Maritime finds can therefore be discovered in quite unexpected places (see figures 2.1 and 2.2). As the title suggests, this book is concerned with the study of archaeological evidence that is under water although, apart from the use of specialized equipment to deal with the environment, the archaeological techniques are essentially the same under water as on land.

Anyone can call him/herself an archaeologist. What is of concern is whether that person does archaeology well or badly. Even the best-trained and most-experienced archaeologists will have limits to their knowledge and range of skills. Good archaeologists will be aware of their own limitations. This applies equally to professionals and unpaid members of the community doing archaeology for fun. Trained professionals have a better chance of achieving acceptable standards in their work because of the education and experience they have accumulated. Hobby archaeologists, however, can achieve equally high archaeological standards if they accrue the appropriate skills and experience. Apart from archaeological skills, one of the attributes of a good archaeologist is the ability to recognize the limitations of available resources. An archaeologist may turn down a project that involves the destruction of evidence (e.g. excavation) if adequate resources and support are not available. As will become clear throughout this book, resources are necessary to recover, record, interpret and look after finds and other evidence. There is also an obligation to arrange for the long-term care of recovered material and records in a museum or other suitable repository. In addition, resources will be required for publication and dissemination so that evidence from the investigation is available to others (see chapter 20).

Archaeology, as it exists today, has its roots in a curiosity about old things – the stories and legends about past events passed down over the generations, whether fact or fiction, and surviving objects which were associated with past events. This curiosity is common to many cultures

Figure 2.1 The bronze-age boat discovered 6 m (20 ft) below ground in Dover, UK during the building of a major new road. (Photo courtesy of the Dover Museum and The Bronze Age Boat Gallery)

and such interest is not a recent phenomenon. Medieval peasants are known to have collected stone hand-axes thinking they were of supernatural origin. Gradually, some of those interested in ‘relics’ attempted to explain what they were collecting and began to see that some of the material might have relevance to wider issues. For example, some tried to prove that early man was barbaric, whilst others tried to bend the evidence in an attempt to prove that some races were innately superior to others.

Fortunately, others were more enlightened and attempted to be objective about what the material might suggest. This really marks the beginning of archaeology as a discipline, separate from the ‘gentlemanly pursuit’ of curio collection (antiquarianism) or the study of individual objects against a historical background (art history). Workers began to borrow techniques from other, longer established disciplines, such as geology, and to look beyond the objects to their surroundings for more evidence.

This was the beginning of the realization that archaeological contexts are important in interpreting the past. Indeed, beginning with analytical techniques borrowed directly from geology, a great deal of attention was focused on the study of contexts and archaeological sequences. This led to an awareness of the factors that differentiate archaeological from geological deposits and has thus allowed more refined study of the subject (Harris, 1989).

Initially, the focus of attention was on individual sites but, as the discipline developed, archaeological research began to address questions such as the migration of populations, the development of agriculture and the structure of past societies. Over the past 200 years the discipline has accumulated increasingly sophisticated methods and a more refined theoretical base; each generation improving on the amount of evidence that could be collected from the physical remains of societies and cultures no longer in existence. Following an initial concern with the classification and description of objects, archaeology developed into a discipline concerned with using material evidence to make inferences about people and behaviour.

The past 30 or so years have seen a great deal of attention focused on the theoretical side of the subject. This has meant that as the body of scientifically collected evidence grows, fundamental questions about the past can now be addressed more effectively, and conclusions tested more rigorously.

Figure 2.2 On the banks of the River Usk in central Newport, Wales, the well-preserved remains of a Tudor ship were discovered. (Photo: Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology)

Work conducted in the early years of the discipline recovered far less evidence about the past than can be recovered today. This is because early archaeologists unwittingly destroyed information that could have been retrieved with modern techniques. While it is too late to do very much about that loss of evidence, it serves as an important reminder that archaeologists of the future may look back on the work of today’s archaeologists in the same way. Both professional and amateur archaeologists should feel a responsibility to hand on as much of the evidence as possible, so that future generations can make sense of the clues that cannot be understood today (plate 2.1).

Understanding the complexity and potential of archaeological sites (rather than just the objects) is a process that has taken a long time to develop, and it is not yet complete. A great deal of experience has been painfully accumulated over the centuries, and there is no excuse for someone curious about the past starting out today to make the same mistakes as those made 100 or 200 years ago. Sadly, this does still happen. Some practitioners of underwater and foreshore archaeology become involved through the accidental discovery of archaeological remains, and may begin with little or no archaeological experience. Underwater archaeology is a comparatively new area of study and still has to prove its value to some traditional archaeologists. However, as it matures and learns from the experience of archaeology in general, priorities and principles can be developed and the overall quality of archaeological work under water will improve.

Archaeologists treat a site like the scene of a crime and carefully collect all the available evidence. The murder weapon, evidence of the break-in, the position of the body, traces of poison, the ballistics report, the systematic search, fingerprints and the fibres matched to the criminal’s clothes, all have their parallels in archaeology. Indeed the methods and aims are so similar that the two disciplines borrow techniques from each other and sometimes work together.

If archaeology is the collection of evidence at the scene of a crime, its sister discipline, history (the study of documents), is the reviewing of witness statements. The two disciplines use different sources of information and different techniques but together they make up the evidence for the case. It is important to be aware of the potential of historical research and to use it where appropriate (see chapter 9). It is equally important not to be confused when the physical evidence appears to contradict the recorded views of witnesses. Each type of evidence has its own problems and limitations and the good detective will understand this and reach conclusions based on the merits of all the evidence.

An examination of our surroundings will soon reveal how little physical evidence of the past has survived. Activities such as building development, road construction and mineral extraction continue to eat away at the store of evidence that is left. In order to drive cars, have warm homes and new buildings, this is the price that has to be paid. With careful planning, however, the loss of information can be reduced. This can be achieved either by avoiding damage to the remains of the past where they exist or, if destruction is unavoidable, recording the sites archaeologically so that at least the evidence...