Ancient Shipwreck Research Articles

Reflections on a decade of autonomous underwater vehicles operations for marine survey at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics

This paper describes insights gained from a decade of autonomous marine systems development at the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Marine Robotics. Over the course of this time, we have deployed numerous vehicles and imaging platforms in support of applications in engineering science, marine ecology, archaeology and geoscience. We have operated an Australia-wide benthic observing program designed to deliver precisely navigated, repeat imagery of the seafloor. This initiative makes extensive use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to collect high-resolution stereo imagery, multibeam sonar and water column measurements on an annual or semi-annual basis at sites around Australia, spanning the full latitudinal range of the continent from tropical reefs in the north to temperate regions in the south. We have also contributed to expeditions to document coral bleaching, cyclone recovery, submerged neolithic settlement sites, ancient shipwrecks, methane seeps and deepwater hydrothermal vents. We briefly consider how automated tools for working with this imagery have facilitated the resulting science outcomes.

Quantification of bottom trawl fishing damage to ancient shipwreck sites

Bottom trawl fishing presents a severe yet largely unquantified threat to shipwreck sites. Here we present a quantification of damage to sites from the Aegean and Black seas through high resolution imaging of 45 shipwrecks discovered by the E/V Nautilus expeditions, 2009–2012. These shipwrecks are part of a modern submarine landscape that is heavily damaged by trawls, which also remove sediment and smooth out natural features of the seabed. We quantify the severity of this threat to archaeological sites through repeat visits to one ancient shipwreck and quantify the change to the seabed over a period of eleven months. The results illustrate the benefits of enforced areas of restricted bottom trawling (Marine Protected Areas) to the in situ preservation of shipwreck sites and to natural seabed features and benthic habitats. Careful marine spatial planning and coordinated management of fishing activity can mitigate this destructive activity. In addition, we counter the claim made by some commercial salvors who use trawl damage as an excuse to salvage artifacts from wrecks, further destroying historically significant sites for profit.

Fishing for common ground: Investigations of the impact of trawling on ancient shipwreck sites uncovers a potential for management synergy

Maximizing social and economic benefits from fisheries and protecting culturally significant archaeological sites are management goals often viewed to be at odds with eachother. However, a potential for management synergy arises if fisheries related benefits can be associated with the protection of shipwreck sites. This study reviews fish abundance and community assemblage on several ancient shipwreck sites in the Aegean Sea. In this region, the presence or absence of fishing has been correlated to shipwreck condition. The results indicate that, on average, wrecks in worse condition (heavily fished) had 55% lower species richness, 57% lower abundance, and 41% lower diversity than wrecks in pristine condition, though only the patterns for abundance and species richness were statistically significant. No statistically significant change in fish community composition between fished and unfished wrecks was observed, though community composition between shallow water and deep water wrecks was statistically different. This research highlights the potential benefit of marine protected areas around areas of high density of shipwrecks that can both protect these sites and increase local fisheries by preserving these artificial reefs.

Innovation Technologies and Applications for Coastal Archaeological sites

Abstract. Innovation Technologies and Applications for Coastal Archaeological sites project (ITACA) aims to develop and test a management system for underwater archaeological sites in coastal regions. The discovering and monitoring service will use innovative satellite remote sensing techniques combined with image processing algorithms. The project will develop a set of applications integrated in a system pursuing the following objectives: – Search and location of ancient ship wrecks; – Monitoring of ship wrecks, ruins and historical artefacts that are now submerged; – Integration of resulting search and monitoring data with on-site data into a management tool for underwater sites; – Demonstration of the system’s suitability for a service. High resolution synthetic aperture radar (TerraSAR-X, Cosmo-SkyMed) and multispectral satellite data (WorldView) will be combined to derive the relative bathymetry of the bottom of the sea up to the depth of 50 meters. The resulting data fusion will be processed using shape detection algorithms specific for archaeological items. The new algorithms, the physical modelling and the computational capabilities will be integrated into the Web-GIS, together with data recorded from surface (2D and 3D modelling) and from underwater surveys. Additional specific archaeological layers will be included into the WebGIS to facilitate the object identification through shape detection techniques and mapping. The system will be verified and validated through an extensive onground (sea) campaign carried out with both cutting edge technologies (side-scan sonar, multi beam echo sounder) and traditional means (professional scuba divers) in two test sites in Italy and Greece. The project is leaded by Planetek Hellas E.P.E. and include ALMA Sistemi sas for the “shape detection” and dissemination tasks, DHI-GRAS and Kell Srl for multispectral and SAR bathymetry. The complete consortium is composed by eleven partners and the project Kick-Off has been held in January 2014. The present contribution aims to present the project research achievements and finding at the mid-term review.

Visualizing and Assessing Hypotheses for Marine Archaeology in a VR CAVE Environment

The understanding and reconstruction of a wrecks formation process can be a complicated procedure that needs to take into account many interrelated components. The team of the University of Cyprus investigating the 4th-century BC Mazotos shipwreck are unable to interact easily and intuitively with the recorded data, a fact that impedes visualization and reconstruction and subsequently delays the evaluation of their hypotheses. An immersive 3D visualization application that utilizes a VR CAVE was developed, with the intent to enable researchers to mine the wealth of information this ancient shipwreck has to offer. Through the implementation and evaluation of the proposed application, this research seeks to investigate whether such an environment can aid the interpretation and analysis process and ultimately serve as an additional scientific tool for underwater archaeology.

The collection of Cu Lao Cham shipweck at the Museum of History - Culture

Building the collections of artifacts is a professional work in order to strengthen the warehouse of a museum, which is one of the most important missions of museums. An original collection of artifacts constructed will help us easily manage them in both quantity and quality to serve scientific research, educational and informational exhibitions of the museum. The collections are the pride and the measure of the value of each museum. Since set up, the Museum of History-Culture in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City always focuses on collection building. From the project “Invest for building artifact collections, improve research ability of the Museum of History-Culture", the museum has successfully built many collections such as Chu Dau ceramics collection, Dong son bronze drums collection, Binh Duong ceramics, artifact collections of ethnic groups in the North of Vietnam, etc. Among those valuable collections, Chu Dau ceramics collection is considered as one of the most valuable collections. This collection has 39 ceramic objects dated from the 15th Century belonging to Chu Dau ceramics found from ancient Cu Lao Cham shipwreck.

A dexterous crabster robot explores the seafloor

Crabster CR200 is a giant crab robot with six legs and 30 powerful joints developed at the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering. The robot can help explore ancient shipwrecks in areas of harsh tidal currents and turbid water, where traditional underwater vehicles have trouble operating.

The 4th-century B.C. shipwreck at Mazotos, Cyprus: New techniques and methodologies in the 3D mapping of shipwreck excavations

Well preserved ancient shipwrecks are rare in the archaeological record, but when discovered, they can provide valuable information on a wide range of research issues if analyzed and documented properly. In this paper we discuss the significance, potential, and constraints of mapping methods applied during the underwater excavation of shipwreck sites with special emphasis on stratigraphy, documentation of finds, and reconstruction of site formation processes. As a case study, we present the digital photogrammetry and computer vision software programs used in the excavation of the 4th-century b.c. shipwreck at Mazotos, Cyprus. Our goal is to develop a targeted documentation and mapping method of ongoing shipwreck excavations so that others can address complex research questions concerning this unique discipline of archaeology.

Building for the Sea Safeguarding Ashore. Brigs, Ships and Peote: A Complex Conservation

The presented work is intended to be an international overview on the most important conservative project of naval heritage. As it was immediately clear that mostly concerns ancient shipwrecks' structures which came from underwater environment and made of waterlogged wood, the analysis has therefore focused on waterlogged wood conservation and reinforcement. Based on the state of the art in the field of conservation and management of ancient ships some considerations can be made. The conservation of artefacts coming from the underwater environment has began in the mid XXth century and developed through a great deal of effort which has resulted in a strong improvement of scientific and multidisciplinary research. Case-studies are various and it is clear that conservative approaches and choices are, sometimes, in contrast: an improvement of the state of the art in this particular field is therefore actual. The considered examples concern different experiences both in historical features and in their conservative tracks. In the selection different situations were taken into account, in order to get to a proper analysis of conservation and on how methods and protocols may have evolved over the years. On one side the research dealt with the waterlogged wood, on the other the goal was establish a method applicable to a wider context. In the case of the last two structures taken into account, it was to check whether the same multi-phase and multidisciplinary approach recorded could be appropriate to achieve, even in this case, the common purpose of heritage conservation.

Bulbs of onion (Allium cepa L.) and garlic (Allium sativum L.) from the 15th-century Copper Wreck in Gdańsk (Baltic Sea): a part of victualling?

Plant remains recovered from ancient shipwrecks can provide a valuable insight into the history of these vessels. Most botanical studies conducted on wrecks concern the identification of wood species used in building vessel structures, with fewer studies being carried out on seeds and fruits, and fewer still on vegetative parts of plants. Bulbs of garlic and onion were discovered during the exploration of the 15th-century Copper Wreck, which sank near the port of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea, N Poland). The results of archaeological, historical and archaeobotanical analyses suggest that plant material was probably an element of victualling rather than cargo. The paper presents a morphological description of garlic (Allium sativum L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.) finds, outlines the introduction of these species to the Old World and summarizes information on the use of both plants as food or medicine, especially during a sea voyage.

Troubled Waters for Ancient Shipwrecks

As archaeologists find new ways to pull precious data from wrecks, they are squaring off against those salvaging ships for profit.

The Astronomical Events of the Parapegma of the Antikythera Mechanism

(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. INTRODUCTIONThe Antikythera Mechanism,1 found in an ancient shipwreck in A.D. 1901, is an extraordinary 2000-year-old astronomical computer that calculated the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, was used as a calendrical device, could predict eclipses, and displayed the year when ancient panhellenic games were held. Extended astronomical and technical inscriptions covered its front and back doors and plates.The front side of the Antikythera Mechanism is mainly preserved in Fragment C where small parts of two concentric rings are found: the outer one displays the Egyptian calendar (with month names ???O?, ?????, etc.) and the inner one the signs of the zodiac (???T???S, XHAAI, etc).2 On the zodiac dial, above some of the scale divisions of each zodiac sign, small capital letters (A, B, G,...) are inscribed, that follow the sequence of the letters of the Greek alphabet.3 Attached to Fragment C, there are also two pieces (Cl -a and Cl-b4) of flat plate, inscribed with lines of text describing astronomical phenomena. At the beginning of each line is a separate letter. These 'index letters' almost certainly correspond to the small capital letters found on the zodiac dial, thus forming a 'parapegma'.5 Parapegmata - calendars of astronomical and meteorological events - were widely used in ancient Greece.6 Incomplete lines of parapegma text have been found in four other fragments (Fragments 9, 20, 22 and 28).On the largest of the two pieces of flat plate (Cl -a) attached to Fragment C, the most extensive parapegma inscription, with 9 lines of text (see Figure 1), can be read. From the lines bearing the index letters ?, M and N, only the last words are visible. The rest of the letters were visible duringAlbert Rehm's investigation (early twentieth century) but nowadays they are not, as part of the inscribed plate has broken away since then. These inscriptions were reported by Price,7 who based his reconstruction on unpublished notes of Albert Rehm.The events mentioned on plate Cl -a are typical of events found in parapegmata and are categorized as follows:(a) There are 6 events that refer to the rising and setting of stars. The verb used is either ... (rises) or ... (sets), indicating that the star is in the east or the west, respectively. It is followed by the adjective ...(in the morning) or ... (in the evening) indicating that the Sun is in the east or the west, respectively. The subject is always a star, a star cluster or a constellation. Combining the star and Sun positions, four star events are formed (morning rising (mr), evening rising (er), morning setting (ms) and evening setting (es)). These four events are sometimes called 'star phases' or 'heliacal risings and settings' by modern scholars.(b) There are 2 events that refer to the signs of the zodiac (henceforward called zodiac statements). The subject is always a zodiac constellation/sign, followed by the phrase ... (begins to rise), indicating that the constellation/sign is in the east. The ancients used the same names to indicate the irregularly shaped and sized zodiac constellations and the uniformlysized, 30°-long, zodiac signs. The fact that there is always an index letter at the first scale division of each sign of the zodiac on the zodiac dial (for all three signs with their first scale division preserved ...) indicates that these events most probably mark the crossing of the Sun from one zodiac sign to the next.8 This is somewhat unusual among Greek parapegmata. Parapegmata, not uncommonly, indicate the entry dates in some manner but this is the only parapegma that uses the verb 'rise' to designate the Sun's entry into zodiac signs. More typically we see a notice that a zodiac constellation to on a day that is not necessarily the first day that the Sun is in the zodiac sign of the same name. For example, in the Geminos parapegma, we read that, according to Callippus, the constellation Leo begins to rise on the 30th day that the Sun is in the sign of Cancer; or that, again according to Callippus, the constellation Aries begins to rise on the 3rd day that the Sun is in the sign of Aries. …

A New Method to Quantitatively Evaluate the Chemical Composition of Waterlogged Wood by Means of Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR FT-IR) Measurements Carried Out on Wet Material

Wood degradation in waterlogged conditions, although slow, is relevant in some specific contexts, such as in the case of cultural heritage preservation (e.g., ancient shipwrecks found under the water table). This decay process induces the selective depletion of the biopolymers constituting wood cell walls and mainly of their structural polysaccharides (both cellulose and hemicelluloses). Assessment of residual composition of cell walls is normally carried out using conventional chemical analyses, which, however, require elevated amounts of material. The present work reports on a new approach to quantitatively determine the residual chemical composition of wood (in terms of amount of lignin and holocellulose) and therefore its extent of degradation. This was accomplished by acquiring attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectra on material still in waterlogged conditions, which was simply placed in optical contact with the ATR crystal. Data for the calibration set were obtained by means of wet analyses, and the calibration model was based on multivariate statistical analysis through partial least square regression. Acquired spectra showed signals higher and better resolved than for dry wood. Calibration was selected after comparing two different normalization procedures and after processing signals of two different spectral ranges. Furthermore, the exclusion of some outliers led to a substantial improvement in the error parameters (R(2) and root mean square error of cross validation) associated with the calibration model, thus allowing for the selection of the best model. The stability of this best model was also established by means of the leave-more-out method. Finally, a procedure of external validation confirmed that the proposed model also could be applied to similar (for instance, belonging to Pinaceae) wood remains from other excavations.

Researching an Elizabethan Shipwreck: The Gresham Ship Project 2007-2012

In 1846, a protracted underwater excavation took place in the Thames Estuary, some 11km north-north-east of Margate, Kent. The focus of this pioneering project was an ancient shipwreck, but the objective was simply to salvage as much of its valuable, if prosaic, cargo as possible. The historic significance of the discovery was not completely overlooked, however, for at a meeting of the British Archaeological Association in December of that year, a handful of items recovered from the wreck were discussed (Anon, 1847). They included a tin ingot stamped with the royal mark (a rose surmounted by a crown); a knife with a double fleur-de-lis stamped on the blade; a roundtoed leather shoe and a silk doublet of late 16th-century type. To accompany the display, the following note was read:

Underwater Cultural Heritage and the Maritime Past of Africa

For Africa, the sea is of enormous cultural significance. It has fostered communication and transport routes and has allowed civilizations to develop and spread. Human settlement along coastlines has been shaped by sea-borne exchanges. The history of Carthage cannot be understood without the story of its seafaring past, as much as the history of Alexandria, Zanzibar, Mozambique Island, or Malindi can be removed from their maritime heritage. The florescence of exchange over the oceans and along the rivers of Africa has permitted intercultural dialogue and mutual influence. This has happened for better or for worse—the most capable seafarers of the first millennium navigated the great rivers of the continent and departed for distant lands from North African coasts, Chinese junks came for peaceful exchange to Kenya’s coasts, European and North American slave ships transported a massive amount of people from the continent’s shores with the greatest sufferance, and colonialism entered via the coasts with the arrival of Dutch, French, English and Portuguese explorers. Many traces of this history still exist but not all are visible, as many remains are located on the seabed. Indeed, there are numerous ancient shipwrecks and important submerged coastal ruins, such as those at Sabratha or at Leptis Magna, that are partially or completely hidden under water. Much more awaits discovery. Many ancient civilizations developed in coastal regions of Africa at a time when sea levels were substantially lower than today. This means that many traces of the earliest humans are now located under water. Prehistoric submerged heritage may hold important information on the development not only of the continent’s populations, but all of humanity. The international community has recognized the importance of protecting submerged heritage by adopting the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in the year 2001. The focus of the Convention is to protect the world’s submerged legacy. It aims to ensure the universal protection of this heritage, to facilitate States’ cooperation and to set professional standards by promoting and guiding the development of responsible underwater archaeology, including mitigation work. It recognizes that underwater cultural heritage merits the same attention as land-based heritage,

Desalination characteristics for ceramics excavated from Taean shipwreck, Korea

Abstract The ceramic artefacts, excavated from ancient shipwrecks, are generally saturated with soluble salts, mainly NaCl, within the porous structure of ceramics. The salinity contents typically exhibit ionic and osmotic pressures to the ceramic microstructures, thus causing significant damages to the integrity of ceramic artefacts. While the utilisation of aqueous soaking methods is commonly accepted for effective desalination processes of ceramics, the relationships between the structural characteristics of ceramics and the desalination efficiency have not been demonstrated. In this study, we examined the desalination processes of various ceramics excavated from the Taean shipwrecks in South Korea to identify major controlling factors for the desalination processes. Our results indicated that the physical properties of ceramics including the water absorption and the pore size distribution greatly influence on the desalination process time and efficiency. It is also found that the surface condition of ceramic samples such as microstructural cracks on the glaze layer is a crucial component of the desalination characteristics. Nevertheless, the small residue of salts such as NaCl crystals were found in the microstructures of some ceramics after prolonged desalination periods. Therefore, it is important to control the humidity and temperature in the conservation environment for desalinated ceramic artefacts even after desalination.

Evaluation of the modern submarine landscape off southwestern Turkey through the documentation of ancient shipwreck sites

The issue of damage to shipwreck sites caused by the operation of mobile fishing gear has only recently begun to be addressed by the archaeological community. However, the nature, extent, and intensity of this damage has yet to be quantified. Acoustic and video surveys conducted between 2008 and 2010 located and imaged sixteen ancient shipwrecks around the Bodrum and Datça Peninsulas, Turkey, many of which were heavily damaged by trawling activity. The results of this research illustrate the unfortunate reality that many wreck sites in the Aegean Sea are heavily damaged by modern fishing activities. Quantifying the extent and intensity of trawl scars on the seabed further reveals the geographic spread of damage in these areas. The results of these mapping projects call attention to the dismantling of cultural sites by the use of mobile fishing gear on the seabed. By comparing the number of broken artifacts on these wreck sites to other sites that have escaped the effects of trawling, such as those in the Black Sea, we see that shipwrecks that are or were at one time in areas of trawling activity show a considerable amount of damage. The location and condition of these wreck sites helps map and quantify past and recent trawling activity, and pinpoint areas on the shallow coastal shelf where additional trawling restrictions or protected zones may be able to help the preservation of archaeological material.

Ships from the depths: deepwater archaeology

Deepwater archaeology uncovers secrets from the ancient maritime past . . . Thousands of shipwrecks and archaeological sites lie undiscovered in deep water, potentially holding important clues to our maritime past. Scientists have explored only a small percentage of the oceans' depths, as 98 percent of the seabed lies well beyond the reach of conventional diving. Ships from the Depthssurveys the dramatic advances in technology over the last few years that have made it possible for scientists to locate, study, and catalogue archaeological sites in waters previously inaccessible to humans. Researcher and explorer Fredrik Soreide presents the development of deepwater archaeology since 1971, when Willard Bascom designed his Alcoa Seaprobe to locate and raise deepwater wrecks in the Mediterranean. Accompanied by descriptions and color photographs of deepwater projects and equipment, this book considers not only techniques that have been developed for location and observation of sites but also removal and excavation methods distinctive to these unique locations, far beyond the reach of scuba gear. Soreide provides an introduction to and survey of the history, development, and potential of this exciting branch of nautical archaeology. Scholars and field archaeologists will appreciate this handy compendium of the current state of the discipline and technology, and general readers will relish this comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities associated with locating and studying historical and ancient shipwrecks in some of the world's deepest waters.

Robotic tools for deep water archaeology: Surveying an ancient shipwreck with an autonomous underwater vehicle

AbstractThe goals of this article are twofold. First, we detail the operations and discuss the results of the 2005 Chios ancient shipwreck survey. This survey was conducted by an international team of engineers, archaeologists, and natural scientists off the Greek island of Chios in the northeastern Aegean Sea using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) built specifically for high‐resolution site inspection and characterization. Second, using the survey operations as context, we identify the specific challenges of adapting AUV technology for deep water archaeology and describe how our team addressed these challenges during the Chios expedition. After identifying the state of the art in robotic tools for deep water archaeology, we discuss opportunities in which new developments and research (e.g., AUV platforms, underwater imaging, remote sensing, and navigation techniques) will improve the rapid assessment of deep water archaeological sites. It is our hope that by reporting on the Chios field expedition we can both describe the opportunities that AUVs bring to fine‐resolution seafloor site surveys and elucidate future opportunities for collaborations between roboticists and ocean scientists. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

We all live in a virtual submarine.

Our seas and oceans hide a plethora of archaeological sites such as ancient shipwrecks that, overtime, are being destroyed through activities such as deepwater trawling and treasure hunting. In 2006, a multidisciplinary team of 11 European institutions established the Venus (Virtual Exploration of Underwater Sites) consortium to make underwater sites more accessible by generating thorough, exhaustive 3D records for virtual exploration. Over the past three years, we surveyed several shipwrecks around Europe and investigated advanced techniques for data acquisition using both autonomous and remotely operated vehicles coupled with innovative sonar and photogrammetric equipment. Access to most underwater sites can be difficult and hazardous owing to deep waters. However, this same inhospitable environment offers extraordinary opportunities to archaeologists because darkness, low temperatures, and low oxygen rates are all favorable to preservation. From a visualization pipeline perspective, this project had two main challenges. First, we had to gather large amounts of raw data from various sources. Then, we had to develop techniques to filter, calibrate, and map the data and then bring it all together into a single accurate visual representation.