University of Rhode Island 2015 Summer Field School in Maritime Archaeology

Student at work in the University of Rhode Island Bermuda field school.

The 2015 Field School in Maritime Archaeology is an ongoing research expedition conducted in Bermuda by faculty of the University of Rhode Island. Participants come from the University of Rhode Island and from other colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. The field school is a research-based learning experience that exposes students to a variety of activities including archival research, artifact conservation, archaeological survey, and underwater excavation and documentation of historic shipwrecks.

The field school will be conducted in the three-week period from July 20 to August 8, 2015. Students will receive 3-6 undergraduate or graduate credits in history. The field school meets many of the fieldwork requirements for anthropology and archaeology majors at universities in the United States and beyond. Professors Rod Mather and James M. Allan of the University of Rhode Island History Department are the program directors. Dr. Allan and Dr. Mather have extensive experience in underwater archaeological field methods, remote sensing, archival research, and scientific diving.

Course enrollment is limited. There are no academic prerequisites, but all participants in the field school must be scuba divers certified to at least the Open Water level, and all must be at least Scientific Divers-in- Training as specified in the American Academy of Underwater Sciences’ (AAUS) Diving Safety Manual. Contact Dr. Mather or Dr. Allan to discuss how the latter training may be obtained prior to the start of the field school. Students must have their own diving equipment (tanks and weights will be provided).

Students learning survey techniques in Bermuda.

While in Bermuda, students will participate in each of three research modules: laboratory training in the museum’s conservation facility, archaeological survey and documentation of historic shipwrecks, and archival research in the Bermuda National Archives, located in the nearby city of Hamilton. Students selecting the 3- credit option will be required to keep a field journal containing details of each day’s research activities, instruction, and procedures. Journals will be submitted for evaluation at the end of the field school. Students will also be required to prepare and submit a scaled plan of the shipwreck site that we will be documenting, and will participate in preparing a collaborative report on the field school that will be submitted for publication in MariTimes, the magazine of the National Museum of Bermuda. Students selecting a 6-credit option will be required to complete all activities for the 3-credit option plus a research paper using materials presented in the course reader, supplementary readings available in the National Museum of Bermuda’s library, or from primary documents available in the Bermuda National Archives. In addition, while in Bermuda students will attend periodic evening lectures on such topics as ship construction, archaeological theory and methodology, archival research methods, archaeological survey methods (magnetometer and visual survey), site excavation and mapping, analysis of archaeological data, and the conservation of waterlogged artifacts.

The course fee is $3,500, all-inclusive, except airfare. Full course credit. For additional information contact Dr. Mather (RodMather@uri.edu) (401-874-4093) or Dr. Allan (jallan@stmarys-ca.edu) (925-253-9070). Application form and additional information are available on the field school website at http://www.uri.edu/international/bermuda.

For information on the research diving requirements contact URI’s Diving Safety Officer Anya Hanson <anyahanson@uri.edu.

Student working with instructor Dr. James Allan in Bermuda.

Underwater Corrosion Testing of the Holland 5 – H.M. Submarine No. 5 By David Crosthwaite-Eyre

Diver using a Cygnus Instruments ultrasonic thickness gauge.

In 1900 the Royal Navy signed a contract to build five ‘Holland’ class submarines. Entering service in 1903, these experimental boats were the Royal Navy’s first submarines, and over the next decade proved the value of the submarine as a weapon of war.

Developments in technology rendered the ‘Hollands’ obsolete and they were either sold for scrap or destined to be used for gunnery practice. HM Submarine No. 5 (the ‘Holland 5’) was en route to a naval yard when it slipped its tow and sunk in 1912. It lay undiscovered off the English south coast until accidentally found in 1995. Now protected by law, it has remained undisturbed on the seabed for almost a century.

In 2010 a Masters student from the School of Applied Sciences at Cranfield University and keen recreational diver, Duncan Harwood, decided to make the Holland 5 the subject of his dissertation.  More specifically, he wished to examine the rate of corrosion suffered by the wreck, and to consider the mechanisms and factors which may have affected that rate of corrosion.

SHA Tech Week: Underwater and Public Archaeology

It’s Tech Week for the SHA blog about underwater and public archaeology.  We’re very pleased to be a part of this with the lead off article. You can read all posts here:  http://www.sha.org/blog/index.php/category/technology/

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference Interview with Dr. Emad Khalil

The folks at the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage have sent out their September press release.  This month’s release contains an interview with Dr. Emad Khalil, Director of the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage in Alexandria Egypt.  You can read the interview here.

For more information on the upcoming conference in Manila please visit their website at: http://www.apconf.org

Thank you to Mark Staniforth and Emily Jateff for sending this in to the Underwater Blogger.

Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage in Peru – By Carlos E. Ausejo

The Peruvian Centre for Maritime and Underwater Archaeology (CPAMS) was started at the end of 2010 and is currently made up of four founding members and an associate researcher. We intend to form a multidisciplinary team although at present we are still only archaeologists. The aim of the CPAMS is to promote scientific archaeological research in underwater maritime environments, rivers and lakes, their interaction areas on land as well as the impact that the maritime landscape has on society’s development over time. We seek to disseminate information on, protect, preserve, and conserve our natural and archaeological heritage that is distributed over the 2250km of the Pacific coastline, rivers, coastal and highland lakes and make it valued, by way of organizing educational programs for archaeologists as well as workshops on social development and awareness.

The importance of maritime and underwater archaeology in Peru lies in the extraordinary state of preservation of the materials which allows access to information not previously recorded (in the case of pre-Hispanic findings) as well as by contrasting findings with written sources. (Colonial and Republican era)

Avocationals Supporting the Profession – By Dave Howe

Editor’s note:

2010 was a great year for the Guest Blogger series which we capped off by publishing the Guest Blogger Anthology (available for free download off the MUA homepage).  We are very happy to kick off the 2011 Guest Blogger series by reaching out to a valuable partner in the field of underwater archaeology.  We’ve  invited Dave Howe to write about avocational involvement in underwater surveys and how trained volunteers can support professional archaeological endeavors.

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Avocationals can provide free, useful and valuable labor on field projects or on other work in direct support of projects.  Although not trained to professional standards in archaeology, avocationals can bring a number of related or supplemental skills, including diving, boat handling, data management, equipment maintenance, forensics, and more.  They also can assist in publication and outreach.  The MUA hosts a number of posts from avocational groups.

For instance trained volunteer groups can conduct independent reconnaissance and assessment for State Historic Preservation Offices.  For example, during 2010 the Institute of Maritime History (IMH) mapped and reported ten sites to the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), continued searching for two Revolutionary War warships for MHT, and began the first known underwater survey at Mount Vernon, finding two definite wrecks, two probable wrecks, and other cultural features not yet mapped.  In February and March 2011 we will map those sites and continue searching for others.  This project is for the benefit of Mount Vernon, MHT, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR).

Deepwater Archaeology in Oil and Gas – By Kimberly L. Faulk (née Eslinger)

The unfortunate events leading up to and following the Macondo well blowout, and the loss of eleven lives in April have focused international attention on the domestic oil and gas industry in the United States for the first time since the Exxon Valdez oil spill on March 24, 1989.  In the 21 years since the Exxon Valdez disaster archaeologists have become more sophisticated in reacting to environmental and archaeological emergencies and in sharing that information with their colleagues.  For the relatively small number of us who work in the oil and gas industry as underwater archaeologists the impact of the recent spill will be on our minds for years to come.  Those of us who work offshore are highly aware of the innate dangers that surround offshore surveys, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations, drilling operations, and infrastructure installation.  I was offshore the day Macondo exploded and for those of us on the boat, our first concern was whether there was anything we could do to assist.  Our second concern that day and the one we didn’t want to voice was whether we knew anyone aboard Deepwater Horizon.

The Historic Environment: Shared Heritage and Joint Responsibilities? – By Ian Oxley

Throughout a thirty-year career in maritime archaeology, a particular hobby-horse of mine has been an element of good practice management that involves jointly sharing heritage responsibilities, as well as benefits and outcomes.

At a basic level, I think that much maritime and underwater heritage is inherently multi-national, a fundamental property opens up great opportunities for co-operative investigation and use, overriding present day boundaries.  It is derived from mobile carriers (ships and boats) travelling between many locations, involving and impacting on many lives, gathering stories so that a rich heritage resource can be re-told now and in the future.

The contributory elements that make up sites that result from this activity can be investigated and presented for education, research and amenity. Making all this happen effectively would seem to be best delivered by a managed contribution from all interested parties, requiring sharing various elements at a range of levels – experience, expertise, knowledge, data, and international, national, and local. It also needs to be effective because archaeological resources are unique, no two sites are the same, and any investigation should be carefully planned so that the maximum of beneficial return is gained with the minimum of impact. This is the joint responsibility bit because the archaeological heritage is a legacy from the past for the future. I hope to show a few examples of what I mean here.

Underwater Cultural Heritage in Oceania

The folks at UNESCO have announced the digital publication of, “Underwater Cultural Heritage in Oceania.” You can view the PDF version here:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001887/188770e.pdf

Underwater Cultural Heritage in Oceania

Our thanks go out to Barbara Egger for sending that link to us.

Integrating Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology – By Matthew A. Russell

As Jim Delgado reminded us in a recent MUA blog, underwater archaeology has been a separate and distinct sub-discipline of archaeology since George Bass’s first full-scale underwater excavation at Cape Gelidonya in 1960. Unfortunately, many early practitioners of underwater archaeology were not treated as serious scholars by terrestrial colleagues in the mainstream of either classical or anthropological archaeology. From the beginning, underwater archaeologists had to fight the perception that antiquarian-style collecting was the limit to what could be done underwater. This perception was repeatedly challenged through early publications that demonstrated the potential of anthropological archaeology underwater, including Keith Muckelroy’s Maritime Archaeology (1978), and Richard Gould’s edited volume Shipwreck Anthropology (1983), which was based on a School of American Research Advanced Seminar organized by Daniel Lenihan and Larry Murphy in 1981. Early skepticism about the scientific or academic contributions of underwater archaeology may also have been because of the inevitable confusion between treasure hunting and underwater archaeology, a problem that still exists among the public and even among other archaeologists. Despite fifty years of professional underwater archaeological research and publication, a gap still exists between terrestrial and underwater archaeologists.