Maritime archaeology is much more complex than it may seem. The subject does not just cover shipwrecks and other submerged sites, but also some dryland sites, lake sites and even just places with a connection to the sea. As the sea level changes, the land that may before have been underwater is now exposed and dry, but the evidence of past maritime activity would still be present for the maritime archaeologist to analyse. It can also be the opposite, where land that was once exposed now lies underwater. An example of this is Doggerland out in the North Sea.
As a field, maritime archaeology is actually much older than you may think. For example the Deane brothers conducted a form of maritime archaeology in the 19th century when they salvaged items from the Mary Rose. When the aqualung (also known as self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, or 'SCUBA' for short) was (re-)invented in the 1940s it allowed divers to have more freedom to move underwater as they were no longer connected to an airhose leading up to a pump on the surface. This in turn opened up a range of new opportunities, and maritime archaeology started to develop quite rapidly and became more popular since more people were able to participate. And it hasn't stopped since. Today, we have learnt that the best results come from an inter-disciplinary survey, where people from a range of backgrounds come together and use their own expertise to help solve the maritime mysteries. With scientific dating systems, chemistry is well needed, and in order to understand the movements of the seabed we will have to turn to the oceanographic and physics departments.
Water is of huge importance to us; around 3/4 of the Earth's surface consists of water and all organic material require water to survive. Humans (and other animals) are bound to base themselves around water resources and as archaeology is the study of human activity in the past, where better to look for it than in and around water. Water also tends to preserve a lot of different types of materials, like wood, that are rarely preserved on land. This is of huge importance as it can fill in gaps in the archaeological record. It is also important to understand the way in which humans utilise waterways. At some point in time, prehistoric groups of people will have ferried over cows from the mainland to Britain in boats (cows aren't indigenous to the British Isles). This sets the question on when it took place and also what type of boats they used to support the weight of the animals.
Personally, I have always lived next to waterways and naturally the sea has become a huge influence on my life. For a long time I had been interested in making archaeology my profession and after I received my diver's licence I decided to try maritime archaeology and signed up for a two week long course in Finland. I was hooked from the start! As I decended to the seabed I felt the water temperature go colder and as the sunlight does not reach very far into the murky water it also went darker. At this point I had not yet got used to using a drysuit so I hit the bottom quite hard, causing the sediments to stir and create a cloud of dust around me, not allowing me to see further than my nose. As the sediments started to settle again I could see a dark shape straight in front of me. For a second I was convinced my heart had stopped beating as the landscape I was viewing was nothing I had seen before. I am not afraid to admit that the dark shape emerging out of the dust actually scared the life out of me! Below the surface there is no sound and barely any movement, and a dark shape can seem strange and uninviting. Eventually my curiosity took over and I swam forwards until I could distinguish what it was. As it turns out it was a small wooden fishing boat that had sunk and settled upside down on the seabed with the keel pointing upwards. I felt an odd sensation of wanting to find out what was inside the boat, but sensibly I chose not to and instead swam around the wreck before ascending to the surface. As I was climbing back into our diving boat I could not help to wonder what excitements lie beneath the boat.
The feeling I had that day on the seabed 4 years ago has been with me ever since and the only time I can feel the same way is when I do archaeology - wet or dry. This is why it is worth it.
L
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