Marine Archaeology

This dissertation examines ancient anchoring practice in the Mediterranean through ca. 1500 CE, as well as the history and technological developments of iron anchors, which are among the most important tools inherited from the ancient world. The methodology employed is holistic in synthesizing archaeological finds, textual, and iconographic evidence, and includes statistical and geographical analysis based on a substantial catalogue of ancient anchor finds. An experimental project is also included where anchor reconstructions were used in the sea and their utility tested.

Mooring is one of the least studied aspects of everyday life for the people of the ancient Mediterranean. It has been elucidated that in most circumstances beaching would not have been a practical option, even for warships and the smallest cargo vessels. Rather, vessels were equipped with specialized gear for mooring off or near undeveloped shores. This included ship's boats enabling access to the shore. Lower draft vessels, particularly galleys, could approach unbuilt shores and employ mooring stakes and cables, and the ship's landing-ladder would be deployed into shallow water. Where available, however, ships would benefit from built quays which facilitated goods transport.

The iron stock-anchor displays the greatest longevity of any anchoring tool, evinced as early as the 5th c. BCE, and appears to have achieved dominance over wooden types by the 3rd c. CE. From its conception the iron-stock anchor undergoes a broad range of gradual changes to its form and features. The earliest known finds take a 'V' form in the bulk-arms and gradually develop through rounded to 'T' and 'Y' forms in the Byzantine Period. The stocks evolve from removable iron types, to permanent forms entirely of wood. Reintroduction of upward-oriented arm designs from northern Europe around the 13th c. CE, and incorporation of hydraulic mechanized smithing developments, heralded a revolution of anchoring technology. Larger, stronger and more efficient anchors were being produced to standardized dimensions and quality, promoting larger ships, and ultimately resulting in novel characteristics of navigation.

3D seismic data from the Dogger Bank, North Sea, allow the mapping of Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems in unprecedented detail. The data demonstrate that glacial processes resulted in the development of incised tunnel valley systems during the Weichselian and that these were subsequently modified by fluvial processes in a pro-glacial setting. Subsequently, the Dogger Bank formed an emergent plain during the Holocene with a complex meandering river system, associated tributary or distributary channels and lakes, dominating the region. Prior to the sea level rising sufficiently to submerge the Dogger Bank around 7500 yr ago, the meandering river system was replaced by a dendritic channel network of potential fluvial, estuarine or intertidal origin. As the Holocene depositional features bear no systematic relationship to the bathymetry this study demonstrates that previously published bathymetry-based models for the Holocene palaeogeographic development of the North Sea require modification.

The “Polee and Rose Allen of the Slave Ship Clotilda and Africatown, Alabama” Explorers Club Flag Expedition took place in February, March and April 2022.  This Final Flag Report contains the following sections:

• Flag Photos of the Expedition
• Location of the Expedition
• Goals of this Effort
• Why This Work is Important
• Previous Relevant Work
• Summary of Genealogical Findings
• Other Activities and Accomplishments
• Targets for Possible Archaeological, Historical & Land Ownership Investigation
• Land Ownership Map
• Any Toulmin Connection? 
• Participants in the Expedition
• Covid Precautions
• Annexes:

o A: Maps of the area
o B: Images of the expedition
o C:  New photo of Cudjo Lewis and Helen Duggar Conwell, c. 1935
o D:  Interview with Orlando Pogue
o E.  A song for the expedition
o F:  Flag #212 award email
o G. History of Flag # 212
o H: Lifetime list of Toulmin expeditions
o I:  Previous Flag Expeditions

Additionally,  a separate attachment is available on “The Polee, Rose and Lucy Allen Lines: Genealogical Descents from Africa, the Slave Ship Clotilda, and Africatown, Alabama to the Present,” and two separate supplements containing information from obituaries and funeral programs of Polee's descendants will be published in May 2022.

In early 2013, PIANC’s EnviCom confirmed the need for a good practice guide to enable the navigation community to deal with features of archaeological and heritage interest in the development of navigation infrastructure projects. Whilst archaeology and heritage are clearly of great importance to certain new infrastructure projects, there are relatively few specialists in these disciplines within the existing PIANC Community. As such, the conventional approach of setting up a Working Group to prepare a technical guidance document was not appropriate. A different approach was therefore needed and Wessex Archaeology, a UK-based specialist organisation, agreed to assist PIANC in its endeavours.

During 2013, PIANC EnviCom worked with Wessex Archaeology’s Coastal and Marine Director to organise a workshop. A number of specialists with relevant international experience and expertise were invited to prepare case study examples for presentation and discussion. The workshop was held at PIANC
Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium in November 2013.

The purpose of this workshop was to highlight a series of case studies and encourage an exchange of information on good practice in dealing with archaeological and heritage interests. The event was extremely successful in this respect and many useful contributions were made by workshop participants as well as by the presenters. Its outcomes were then collated by Diana Donohue, Victoria Cooper and Euan McNeill of Wessex Archaeology and used, together with written case studies, in the preparation of this guidance.

The steam paddle wheel ferry SS Telephone was a familiar sight on the Georges River in the early years of the 20th century carrying passengers from Como station upstream to pleasure grounds at Lugarno Park and Parkesvale. There is no record of her ever leaving the Georges River but her history after 1908 is unknown. Her fate remains a mystery but a recent investigation of Parkesvale has uncovered evidence of ship salvage which may mark her last resting place.

When working on a conservation assessment of the Revolutionary War gunboat Philadelphia for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Peter Fix and I had the opportunity to closely examine the remains of the vessel. The Philadelphia has been on display at the museum for almost fifty years and has been studied thoroughly; therefore, we were not expecting to make any new archaeological discoveries. To our surprise, we found a variety of previously undocumented carpenter’s marks scribed into the timbers by the original builders in 1776. 

During our preliminary survey, we discovered eight types of marks and one construction feature relating to the vessel’s design...

The Antikythera Mechanism (originally called Table or Tablet, ΠΙΝΑΞ, ΠΙΝΑΚΙΔΙΟΝ) is the oldest known advanced scientific instrument. It is a dedicated astronomical computer working with gears, constructed by Greek scientists during the Hellenistic period, probably around 150 to 100 BC (Ch Kritzas, priv. comm. 2006), somewhere in the Greek World. Its dimensions are approximately 32x22x5cm. The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the greatest discoveries of ancient artefacts globally, as it proves that humans conceived and constructed a Mechanical Cosmos much earlier than we believed. It also provides evidence of the long history of advanced technology and miniaturization, as the Mechanism is constructed with very small gears with teeth of the order of 2mm.
The Antikythera Mechanism is a calendar and an astronomical, meteorological, educational and cartographic device. It is the oldest analogue computer, the first known Mechanical Cosmos, probably a Planetarium and possibly an astronomical clock. It was made by Greek scientists, based on appropriate knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, physics, engineering and metallurgy.
The Mechanism is an epitome of Greek natural philosophy, as it models the universe using mathematics, following the Pythagorean doctrine that numbers determine everything and describe nature.
The Mechanism is made with carefully designed and cut bronze gears with triangular teeth, created to perform specific mathematical calculations with gear trains allowing the user to find the position of celestial bodies in the sky. Greek astronomers at the time modelled the motions of astronomical bodies with epicycles, like the Fourier series of today. The actual sizes of the gears have been optimised to minimize friction, give appropriate strength without breaking and work without bearings. Various alloys of copper with tin and a bit of lead were used. The gears are made of a harder alloy; the teeth are hardened. The plates of the Mechanism on which the text of the user manual is written are made of softer material. Special care has been taken regarding the design and material of axles and shafts, some co-axial, with variable cross section.
In brief, the Mechanism:
1. shows the position of the Sun,
2. shows the position of the Moon (including its phase),
3. predicts solar and lunar eclipses,
4. determines the date of important Greek Games and Festivities, the so-called Crown games: the Olympics, the Naan, the Pythian, the Nemean and the Isthmian.
Festivities enable people to mark the passage of time and have a functional calendar for agricultural and pastoral purposes, fishing and hunting, which was, and still is, essential for the survival of all societies. In these festivities the Greeks had not only athletics, as we assume based on our experience of modern Olympics, but also poetry, theatrical and musical competitions.
This wonderful scientific instrument is on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, together with other treasures which were found in a large shipwreck (more than 300 tones) that probably sank between 80 and 60 BC. The ship was full of Greek treasures that were on the way to Rome. The Mechanism was found near the small Greek island of Antikythera, at a depth of 45-60 meters by Symian sponge divers.

A “frying pan” of some interest, since it depicts a longboat, (Syros Museum 1163)  was found in a rescue excavation conducted under the direction of the author in the Roussos field at Chalandriani in Syros in 2002-2008. The field lies in the West Sector of the Early Cycladic Chalandriani cemetery . The excavation revealed 28 undisturbed graves of the corbelled type with grave goods more or less similar to those from Tsountas’s excavations, and distinguished by their variety and wealth. The new find (from Grave VII), besides enlarging the corpus of known depictions of longboats on ‘frying pans’, provides an opportunity, because of its well-documented contexts, to understand better certain aspects of these intriguing objects and the EBA II Chalandriani society they reflect.

This report traces eight generations of an historic African American family,  the Polee Allen clan, from Africa to the present.  Over 160 persons are charted and documented, and in this report and the two Supplements hundreds more are traceable.  The analysis was requested by the President of the Clotilda Descendants Association (CDA), Mr. Darron Patterson.  The line focuses on descendants of Polee and Rose Allen, who were both kidnapped in the African interior in or near what is now Benin or Nigeria, brought to the coast at what is now Ouidah, Benin, and then transported in 1860 to Mobile Bay, Alabama on the last slave ship to arrive in the United States – the infamous Clotilda.  After gaining their freedom in 1865, they were both co-founders and leader of Africatown, Alabama,  the only town in America founded by Africans and still in existence,
Information is also provided on Lucy Turner Allen, Polee’s second wife, and  on her parents and descendants.  No biography of Polee and Rose Allen (or Lucy Turner Allen) has ever been written; this report provides a short mini-biography, mainly focused on Polee.

This report has the following sections:
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction and biographical material
• Methodology
• Genealogical charts
• Assertions and proofs
• Annexes:
o Annex 1: Interviews: Vernetta Henson, Darron Patterson and Brehon Allen, Sr.
o Annex 2: Information on possible memberships in lineage organizations
o Annex 3: Calculation of the possible number of descendants
o Annex 4: Various relevant obituaries and articles
o Annex 5: Possible previously unknown Clotilda survivors
o Annex 6: A song about Kupollee Allen
o Annex 7: Information on the author.

• Supplement #1:  The Polee and Rose Allen Lines: Supplement #1 with Funeral Programs on the Descendants of the Slave Ship Clotilda and Africatown, Alabama
• Supplement #2:  The Polee and Lucy Allen Lines: Supplement #2 with Funeral Programs on the Descendants of the Slave Ship Clotilda and Africatown, Alabama

The two Supplements (available in May 2022) are presented as separate, stand-alone documents.

ABSTRACT: Underwater archaeological exploration along the Israeli coast revealed fish remains, fishing
gear and auxiliary implements. These were recovered from submerged prehistoric villages, anchorages,
harbors, fishing grounds and shipwreck sites. Prehistoric fishing techniques included free diving fishing
and fishing by nets and hooks. A set of fishing gear recovered from a Roman shipwreck off the Carmel
coast included netting tools, fishing hooks, lead sinkers, and auxiliary tools. The sinkers found in this
wreck, some decorated, enabled the identification of cast net(s), passive standing nets and beach seines. A
discovered set of artifacts used for fishing by light include cast net sinkers, a fishing spear, an iron fire
basket and a sounding weight. Auxiliary implements found in Israel include sounding weights for fishing
ground location, grapnels and rings for salvaging lost gear and coral harvesting gear. Documents written
by ancient authors and mosaics helped in identifying the recovered fishing artifacts.

KEYWORDS: FISHING, ISRAEL, PREHISTORY, PROTOHISTORY, CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY,
FISHING GEAR, FISHING METHOD

Underwater archaeological salvage operations in Greece commenced with ‘nude diving’ in Lord Elgin’s wrecked ship Mentor in 1802 at Kythera, continued with hard helmet diving at the Salamis straits in 1877, at Antikythera in 1900 and Madhia in 1907, and advanced with the introduction of SCUBA diving in the late 1950s. First underwater excavation took place at Grand Congloué in 1950 and from then on, salvage was transformed and developed into a separate discipline of archaeology, progressing today in using Closed Circuit Rebreathers and Atmospheric Diving Systems, as in the recent Antikythera project (2012- 2014). Except for SCUBA diving gear
and visual observation, several other technological methods and equipment have been used after the mid-twentieth century, to locate and map submerged cultural remains, especially in deep waters. The article comprises an overview of innovative underwater archaeological research efforts in Greek territorial waters, distinct from the standard diving methods and technologies used in the field. The overview of the history of their use will lead, at the end,to the discussion of their efficiency and basic principles to be followed based on the experience acquired.

The New Issue of MAA (www.maajournal.com) August 2016 with papers on : GIS, IT, Archaeoastroomy, numismatics, settlement archaeology and more.....
FREE DOWNLOAD, REAL OPEN ACCESS.......

1. EXAMINATION AND ANALYSES OF A WOODEN FACE A THE MUSEUM STORAGE AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY, CAIRO UNIVERSITY
Yassin Zidan, Nesrin N.M. El Hadidi*, Mourad F. Mohamed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47538
2. A STUDY ON CHALICES FROM BEYCESULTAN: THEIR FUNCTION, SOCIAL MEANING AND CULTURAL INTERACTIONS
F. Dedeoğlu
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47539
3. A POSSIBLE ATTESTATION OF THE NABATAEAN MINISTER SYLLAEUS IN A NEW ANCIENT NORTH ARABIAN (SAFAITIC) INSCRIPTION
Nada Al-Rawabdeh and Sabri Abbadi
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47540
4. IT-INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFER TO HERITAGE SITES: THE CASE OF MADABA, JORDAN
Monther M. Jamhawi, Zain A. Hajahjah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47541
5. GIS AND GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN SUPERFICIAL OPEN-AIR SITES: THE CASE OF RAÑA DE CAÑAMERO NEANDERTHAL SETTLEMENT (GUADIANA BASIN, SPAIN)
Jesús Fernández Fernández, David Álvarez Alonso and Pablo Alonso González
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47542
6. CRANIAL AND POST-CRANIAL TRAUMATIC INJURY PATTERNS IN VAN CASTLE MOUND MEDIEVAL POPULATION
Ahmet Cem Erkman, Okşan Başoğlu, Gülüşan Özgün Başıbüyük, Pınar Gözlük Kırmızıoğlu, Ayhan Yiğit, Yarenkür Alkan Yalçın, Ferhat Kaya
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.47543
7. CONSIDERING THE RE-USE OF LATE BRONZE AGE BUILDINGS IN LIGHT OF CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION AND HUMAN REMAINS AT BEYCESULTAN
Başak Boz
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48531
8. NANOCOMPOSITES FOR THE PROTECTION OF GRANITIC OBELISKS AT TANIS, EGYPT
Fatma M. Helmi, Yasser K. Hefni
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.48820
9. THE HANNIBAL ROUTE CONTROVERSY AND FUTURE HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION IN THE WESTERN ALPS
W.C. Mahaney
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53065
10. AUTHENTICATION AND CONSERVATION OF MARINE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COINS EXCAVATED FROM UNDERWATER OF THE RED SEA, SAUDI ARABIA
Omar Abdel-Kareem, Awad Al-Zahrani, Aljouhara Al-Sadoun
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53066
11. AN OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE SAFAVID ERA ON THE BASIS OF SILVER COINS, CASE STUDY: SHAH ABBAS II AND SULTAN HUSSEIN
Hassan Kohansal Vajargah
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53068
12. ANALYTICAL STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF GILDED MUMMIFORM CARTONNAGE FROM THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD IN CAIRO MUSEUM
Mona F. Ali,  Ahmed M.El Sheikha, Alaa E. Ali
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53070
13. NEW FINDINGS ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ROMAN BEDROCK MORTARS: INTERPRETING THE EVIDENCE FROM ROMAN PINO DEL ORO GOLD MINES (SPAIN)
C. Vázquez-Calvo, R. Fort, D. Romero, A. Beltrán and F. J. Sánchez-Palencia
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53072
14. ANALYSIS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL BONES FROM DIFFERENT SITES IN EGYPT BY A MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES (XRD – EDX – FTIR)
Gomaa Abdel-Maksoud, Alaa El-Sayed
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53073
15. IDENTIFICATION OF (PROBABLY POLISH) COCHINEAL AND OTHER DYES IN BYZANTINE TEXTILES OF THE 14TH CENTURY FROM MOUNT ATHOS
Dimitrios Mantzouris, Ioannis Karapanagiotis, and Christos Karydis
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53074
16. ASTRONOMY AND LANDSCAPE AT THE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT VILLAGGIO DEI FARAGLIONI, USTICA, SICILY
Franco Foresta Martin, Giulio Magli
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.53075

St. Eustatius, a small island in the northeastern Lesser Antilles, was one of the busiest ports in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World. Contested between the Dutch, French, and English, the island attracted thousands of ships a year and became one of the most cosmopolitan places in the New World. Moreover, the island played an important role in the American War of Independence (1775-1783), during which large quantities of arms, ammunition, and gunpowder were shipped to the fledgling United States through St. Eustatius.

Relics of this turbulent past are found all over the island and in its surrounding waters. These include warehouses in the historic port district, fortifications all around the island, sugar plantations in the countryside, and a variety of underwater archaeological sites such as shipwrecks, anchorage areas, and docks.

Through extensive archaeological and documentary research, this study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the maritime cultural landscape of St. Eustatius over the past four centuries. It focuses on bridging the gap between the marine and terrestrial worlds and demonstrates that in order to truly make sense of the complex interactions, events, and processes that shaped this maritime world, both land and sea need to be studied in relation to each other.

Ombord på förlista fartyg finns många spår av människor som levt före oss. För att närma sig dem kan vi studera fartygen, rumsligheten, föremålen eller till och med deras faktiska skeletala kvarlevor. Olika fysiska ting bär på information om olika aspekter och skeenden, vilket ger oss goda möjligheter att öka förståelsen för forna tiders människor och deras livsvillkor. Trots att livet till sjöss i många avseenden skilde sig från livet på land, så är de båda ändå starkt sammankopplade. De hierarkier och strukturer som fanns på landbacken följde ofta med ut till sjöss, liksom även föremål och konsumtionsvanor. På många av de förlista fartyg som påträffats och undersökts finns föremål som kan kopplas till konsumtion av alkohol och tobak.

Dessa har till viss del beforskats, men i en mycket begränsad omfattning. I denna artikel avser jag närma mig livet för människorna ombord på flottans fartyg under 1600- och 1700-talen genom att studera njutningsmedel – i detta fall fynd kopplade till alkoholhaltiga drycker och tobak.

Avsikten är även att sammanställa och granska tidigare forskning, liksom att genom några exempelfall peka på kunskapsluckor som är angelägna att beforska.

In 1977, a shipwreck assemblage was discovered off Atlit, Israel. Finds included three iron anchors, a large bombard, four swivel
guns, stone and lead shot, and bronze helmets. The bronze bombard (2210 kg, 3.247 m long) contained a wooden wad and
remnants of what may have been gunpowder. The swivel guns (each 185 kg) were bronze, with swivels and the tillers of iron.
Twenty (or 21) bronze helmets were recovered. The findings provide rare evidence for the mounting of heavy ordnance on the
bow of a galley or ship in the 15th century.

Key words: Carmel coast, iron anchors, shipwreck, Ottoman, Mamluk, bombard.

The dynamic growth, migration, and evolution of barrier islands such as St. George and Dog Islands are factors to be considered for archaeological survey and inventory of historic shipwrecks in near-coastal settings. Research examining the formation, evolution, and historic shoreline changes occurring on barrier islands such as those in Franklin County, Florida (Dog Island, St. George Island, Little St. George Island and St. Vincent Island) can supplement shipwreck surveys. The geological history of St. George and Dog Islands lays the foundation for a new model of implementing shipwreck surveys around barrier islands in near-coastal environments. HMS Fox, a 150-ton British military schooner, reportedly sank off the eastern end of St. George Island in 1799 after wrecking on a shoal during a storm. Fox gains its historical significance due to its relation to William Augustus Bowles, a British Loyalist. Bowles’ attempts to create a separate and sovereign Indian Nation of Muskogee were thwarted after HMS Fox wrecked.
The Dog and St. George Islands Shipwreck Survey, an ongoing archaeological research project, reconstructed the geomorphology of St. George Island to define a high probability survey area for HMS Fox. As a result, remote sensing surveys recorded a multitude of magnetic and sonar anomalies in 2000 and 2001 which may represent historic cultural remains such as shipwrecks. The model of reconstructing barrier island geomorphology to define shipwreck survey areas, likely to contain shipwrecks and other historic cultural resources, succeeded by identifying several significant anomalies in 2000 and 2001. Even though all magnetic and sonar anomalies have not yet been investigated, the functionality of this model and its application to shipwreck survey is certain.

Two Portuguese naus from Vasco da Gama's second voyage to India, left behind to disrupt maritime trade between India and the Red Sea, were wrecked in May 1503 off the northeastern coast of Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman. The ships, Esmeralda and São Pedro, had been commanded by da Gama's maternal uncles, Vicente and Brás Sodré, respectively. A detailed study and scientific analysis of an artefact assemblage recovered during archaeological excavations conducted in Al Hallaniyah in 2013 and 2014 confirms the location of an early 16th-century Portuguese wreck-site, initially discovered in 1998. Esmeralda is proposed as the probable source of the remaining, un-salved wreckage.

S.S. R.W. Gallagher and S.S. Cities Service Toledo were sunk by German U-boats in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942. They were investigated for their historical significance under a project led by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)/Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) archaeologists in 2010. These two shipwreck sites provide an opportunity to analyze maritime casualties within the broader theoretical framework of battlefield archaeology. Furthermore, they provide examples of site formation processes that help explain why ships end up inverted on the sea floor during sinking events. Through the dynamic research associated with identifying these ships, their history, and their context, 3D modeling is utilized in an attempt to exhibit the current state of remote-sensing and 3D modeling software. These capabilities allow archaeologists to take a static archaeological site and present it in a way that will reveal more to the public through the growing lens of graphical interpretation and interest in World War II archaeology.  This thesis builds upon a foundation of current technology and theoretical principals for future research to broaden knowledge and practice of marine archaeology in the Gulf of Mexico, and beyond.  (Masters Thesis)

Η λακωνική γη είναι ένας τόπος με μοναδική φυσιογνωμία, ξεχωριστή ιστορία και παρουσία στη διάρκεια των αιώνων. Βρίσκεται στο νοτιοανατολικό άκρο της Πελοποννήσου, μια θέση όπου έπαιξε καθοριστικό ρόλο για την πορεία και την εξέλιξη του τόπου , όπως θα διαπιστώσετε παρακάτω. Το νερό, και συγκεκριμένα η θάλασσα, είναι εκείνο που συνέβαλε πρωτίστως στην εξέλιξη της Λακωνίας, ως ένα σημαντικό σταθμό στους θαλάσσιους δρόμους της προϊστορίας κυρίως, αλλά και της αρχαιότητας.

© Κωνσταντίνα Ταμπάκη

(Το έγγραφο υπόκειται σε πνευματικά δικαιώματα)