Marine Archeology

[DameDykker]

I've been chating about an old wreck (1677) on my intro thread. That just made me wonder if there is anybody else interested in marine archeology?

I like and have worked on old wooden ships but my main interest in that area is the stone age sites. Here (Denmark) they are in 1-8 m of water and they are all over the place. It is a very special feeling to hold a 8000 year old flint (chert) knife in your hand and know that nobody else probably touched it all those years. Also the finds are making a real contribution to our knowledge of our far ancestor.

As you can see I'm all excited about this What about you?

 

[DivingGal]

Finding out about the "old" stuff down below is very great. I belong to a group - Save Ontario Shipwrecks - made up of a number of people with a similar fascination. In the area where I dive there are over 200 wrecks (new and old - though not 8000 years), so lots to choose from.

 

[DameDykker]

Do you also measure artifacts and positions and or are you allowed to salvage things and take them home (conservation?). We normally can't.

By the way I can't get you URL to work. My stone age group is found here: http://www.rfg.subnet.dk. The text is in danish but there are a few photographs.

 

[jenmichigan]

Hi,

I'll answer about the Great Lakes. Everywhere has different rules about salvage rights. In the Great Lakes we have underwater preserves. Within these preserves all aritifacts on shipwrecks are off limits. Now some artifacts although off limits have ended up in museums for one reason or another.

Salvage rights can be obtained for some wrecks outside of these preserves. (The preserves do not cover the entire Great Lakes Bottomland) From what I understand this is a lengthy and expensive court battle to obtain these rights. I'm sure someone else on the board could go more in depth into this process.

A common saying around here is "Take only pictures and Leave only bubbles"

Jennifer
http://www.MichiganShipwrecks.com

 

[DivingGal]

Well I don't know what happen with the URL -- here's the one for our local chapter http://www.neumes.com/SOSottawa/

As Jennifer says - there are different rules all over. Basically though I think it might be safe to say "look but don't touch"....

 

[Pam and Stella]

I was just searching on this topic over the net. A friend of
mine whom used to dive pro for the govt, brought up many artifacts off the coast of Delaware, South Carolina and has donated the finds to the area Universities. I know he has kept some, because he showed me his "priceless finds" and I asked "What years did you keep the artifacts, What years did you donate?" He just smiled. What a great hobby!!!

I contacted Mel Fisher's salvaging company in Fla., still waiting for the literature on salvaging laws.

Pam

 

[DameDykker]

The problem with bring up souveniers is that they need to be conservated to last. This is a process wicht sometimes can take years and involve unpleasant chemicals. Some time I've seen people who brought up china and falied to "de-salt" them with the result that the upper layer will fall off. Thereby, runinig a unik artifact.

The other problem is that some fellows have a large collection of things where the excact place and cercumstances of the find is no longer known. This leads to loss of knowledge. Finally this large collection might just be dumped into the bin when the mother gets her hands on "this old junk".

So for the most just leave the stuff down there for other divers to look at. Or at least document the find and hand it over to the museum.

The result - for me - is that I don't have a huge collection but a few items I was allowed to keep and which don't disintegerate with time - and can be displayed with pride to everyone.

 

[King_Neptune]

We plan on adding a few articles on this subject from those in the field and from what they have told me the majority of what has been saved and preserved is from "amature collectors" ... most universities and museums dont have the funds or knowledge to take on projects like this.

=-)

 

[DameDykker]

Yes I know about the funds problem (don't we all =-x *). However, most people don't have the knowlegde, the possibility or the chemical to preserve old wood. After a few thousend years it is like wet crackers and even the very surface might contain valuable information about tools. Of course if the item is in immediate danger of being destroyed I would probably collect is as well and the face the music afterwards. However, in many circumstances the dive sites would be a lot more entertaining if everybody just left the artifacts down there.

* here I wanted to put in the =-> devilish grin but it doesn't seem to work?

 

[Pam and Stella]

Fascinating subject-Marine Archaeology!!!!

I would be interested to hear other divers experiences and stories about searching for "Undiscovered Treasures" of the deep. Where are the "Underwater El Dorados"of the World? I realize you could probably find this on the net, but it would be much more fun to hear it from one of the guests on this board first hand.

Pam