2002 Projects

From early June through August, George Bass and his Assistant Directors Mark Polzer and Liz Greene will lead the first excavation of a sixth-century B.C. shipwreck in the eastern Mediterranean. The wreck was discovered by Selim Dincer and reported to Bass by Aşkın Cambazoğlu, a local dive operator, during last year's ancient shipwreck survey. The wreck lies off Pabuç Burnu, a small promontory east of Bodrum, at a depth of about 36 meters. It is hoped that the wreck will shed light on the archaic Greek economy, trade, and shipbuilding techniques.

Kroum Batchvarov and his colleagues from the Bulgarian Center for Underwater Archaeology will continue to excavate the Ottoman-period vessel at Kiten, off the southern Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. Of primary importance is uncovering and recording the remainder of the well-preserved hull, and excavating the cargo area in the ship's aft end.

The Red Sea, Quseir, Egypt. The excavation of the Quseir shipwreck will illustrate an important chapter in the development of Red Sea trade between Egypt and India in the early Roman Imperial period. INA-Egypt has known of a shipwreck in Quseir since 1993, and surveys to the wreck site have revealed Campanian amphoras from Italy dated to between the 1^st Century BCE and 1^st Century AD. It is currently believed that the ship was outbound for India and was probably part of a fleet sent by Augustus to capture a controlling interest in the Indian Ocean trade. Due to the extreme depth of the wreck (65 m.), the excavation will be carried out by specially trained archaeologists using specialized mixed-gas diving equipment. INA has obtained permission to excavate the Roman shipwreck at Quseir (1st centuries BC-AD). Media interest in the wreck’s excavation remains high. We have postponed the initial survey of the wreck site (65 meters depth) until we have installed appropriate dive safety measures. By exploring Rome-India trade at Quseir, INA will enter ‘the final frontier of Classical archaeology.’

In conjunction with Dr. Francisco Alves and Mr. Alberto Machado, Dr. Filipe Castro and a team from Texas A&M University will resume the excavation of two shipwrecks lying in the mouth of Portugal's Arade River. One ship is a carvel-built ship apparently of the 16th century, and the other is clinkered dating to the 13th century

The Denbigh is the only Civil War blockade runner to be excavated in the Gulf of Mexico and one of just a few that have been investigated anywhere. The Denbigh was hailed as a pinnacle of achievement in British maritime engineering, design, and construction. This ship became the last blockade runner to clear a Confederate port. The goals include recovering the port engine, drive train, and paddlewheel; continuing the search for contents including personal possessions and cargo; and continuing to record structure and technological details.

During the seventeenth century, contrabandistas and buccaneers rampantly fueled illegal trade on Hispaniola's northern coast. Historical evidence documenting this practice is scant; archaeological evidence is virtually non-existent. One exception to this record may be the remnants of a vessel lying in the waters off Monte Cristi. This wreck of a northern European merchantman appears to be our first archaeological evidence of this illicit enterprise. Archaeological collections from contemporary sites suggest that the ship's cargo was destined for the eastern seaboard of what is now the United States- specifically the Hudson River Valley. Certain items found in the cargo were intended for trade with Native Americans, as aspect of commerce generally not chronicled. Research is intended to determine the nationality of the vessel, the primary destination of the vessel and the cause of the vessels' demise.

In September and October, George Bass plans to conduct another survey for ancient shipwrecks along the southwest Turkish coast using INA's new two-person submersible Carolyn, which will again be carried on the catamaran Millawanda.

The Shipwrecks of Anatolia is a broad project started in July 2000 and is expected to take several more years to complete. As a result of the surveys done by INA members in Turkey, many spectacular shipwrecks have been excavated and many others have been located. Every year the individual surveyors have published the results of their projects, but there is not yet a complete compilation of all the results of this forty-year effort. The Shipwrecks of Anatolia is the creation of a database in which the researching archaeologist will be able to find information about the existing wrecks easily. The data available will include videos, photographs, artifact pictures, maps, and other materials and will be able to be updated on a regular basis.

Very little is known about seafaring on the Northwest Egyptian coast although it was heavily traveled from the early Hellenistic period to the late Roman/Byzantine period. Warships were prevalent in the early Arab period. Approximately 30 Late Bronze Age Canaanite amphora's have been discovered by Dr. Steven Snape's excavations (University of Liverpool) of Ramses II's temple/border fortress. Additionally, Late Bronze Age potter has been found in Marsa Matrouh. Phoenician remains are not common, but their discovery would support evidence of a southern route to Carthage as well as the northern route. Staff members from INA-Egypt visited the area in April 1999 and explored for shipwrecks inside the reef (approx. 3km offshore). This will allow us to record significant evidence of seafaring at that time. Due to NATO exercises in the area, we postponed the survey of the Mediterranean coast to find a Bronze Age or Phoenician ship until the spring of 2002. But in alignment with the Egyptian government’s desire to survey the entire Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts, INA now has exclusive permission to survey approximately a quarter of the Egyptian Mediterranean coastline.

For the more than 50 years since the end of World War II, extensive historical and archaeological research has been conducted at invasion-related sites ranging from the landing beaches to the German fortifications that defended the shoreline, and the sites of the important battles further inland. However, no underwater archaeological research had been carried out. The undersea archeological record of the invasion had been subjected to decades of erosion, beaches and shore clearing, and there is evidence of looting by sport divers. All of this had continued virtually unchecked. The present project is designed to remedy this situation. Using state of the art remote sensing detection and imaging equipment, the landing areas will be surveyed from Utah Beach in the west to Sword Beach in the east.

Originally named the "Columbus Landing Site," the Salt River Bay has served at St.Croix' main port since pre-Columbian time. The potential for nautical archaeology in this national landmark zone is enormous.

The Athlit ram; analysis and re-evaluation of the bronze technology used in its production

The ram is one of the largest bronzes to survive intact from the ancient Mediterranean world. This artifact represents the only large-scale warship ram ever found, and the only one which can be securely dated to the Hellenistic period. Current technical understanding of the Athlit ram rests primarily on a series of analysis taken shortly following the ram's discovery but questions remain. Advanced, analytical methods not available during the early study will help determine the composition and origins of this important piece.

In conjunction with the Centro Nacional de Argqueologia Nautica e Subaquatica, INA and Texas A&M University will continue recording the timbers of this ship for the second year.

During 11 years of excavation from 1984 to 1994, some 20 tons of cargo, shipboard objects, and personal possessions were recovered from the Uluburun shipwreck. This shipwreck is considered to be one of the major and most important Bronze Age sites ever discovered. Most goods recovered from the shipwreck are unique and have already greatly enhanced every aspect of Bronze Age archaeology of the Mediterranean from Homeric studies to metrology, and from ship construction to refinements of Bronze Age chronology. While analysis has already been generated, before a meaningful, detailed analysis can be conducted for the final publication of the findings, all of the excavated artifacts need to be completely conserved, reconstructed, measured, drawn and photographed. That is the intent of the current project.

There is no known detailed account of how Ottoman ship galleys were constructed. The Kadirga, or the galley of the Ottoman Sultan on display in the Naval Museum in Istanbul, is the only authentic historic galley in existence. This galley has not been investigated in detail, and INA staff believes there is a unique opportunity to examine this last surviving galley in the Mediterranean and to critically review the archaeological remains of the few other known Mediterranean galleys.

The Bozburun hull remains - from a 9th century AD Byzantine merchantman that wrecked off the southwest coast of Turkey - represent the only fully excavated eastern Mediterranean ship from the early Medieval period. A detail analysis and reconstruction of the archaeological material has yet to be made available. The research on the hull will be completed through the cataloguing of all the preserved timbers of the ship and conservation and reconstruction of the preserved hull material. The analysis of the amphoras will be done through capacity studies and petrography analysis, while the galley ware is being compared to a variety of finds from the eastern Mediterranean.

In the late 1970s, INA work in Turkey concentrated on the excavation of the eleventh-century AD ship, now called the "Glass Wreck". Its cargo included the largest collection of medieval Islamic glassware in the world (over 10,000 different vessels) and its hull represents an important step in the transition from the ancient, shell-based methods of building ships to modern, frame-based construction. At this time, the final volume of a three volume publication is being prepared to document the items found on the Glass Wreck.

INA Headquarters, Bodrum, Turkey. Due to the completion of the Mombasa Shipwreck Excavation, preparations for the final publication of the Mombasa Shipwreck Excavation are taking place. This portion of the research phase will correlate the results of the completed excavation and assimilate those results into a database. This project will make available a database (integrating all drawings and photographs) which will be used by researchers and final publication contributors as well as encourage positive contributions by 2002.

Pennipeds in Underwater Archaeology

San Diego, California. This three-year project, in conjunction with SLEWTHS, will train and test the use of sea lions in the open ocean for locating shipwrecks. The past three decades have seen tremendous advances in the use of highly trained marine mammals in scientific research. Of particular interest is the Californian sea lion (Zalophus californianus), an extremely intelligent social penniped that is easily conditioned for work with humans. Numerous natural attributes make pennipeds - and specifically, sea lions - optimal survey associates for nautical archaeologists. They are: quadrupedal; easily transportable; highly mobile (on land and sea); well adapted to the aquatic environment, capable of swimming to speeds of 5-10 mph and repeatedly diving to depths of 1,300 ft. They can carry large arrays of working equipment (recording and acoustic devices) and are capable of acute visual and tactile discrimination. Furthermore, sea lions can work well in both marine and fresh water environments that often prove hostile to archaeologists (e.g. low visibility, swift currents).

Called the ‘jewel of the century,’ (15th AD) Qiat Bey fortress glistens on the foundations of the Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Ancient Seven Wonders. INA has been excavating the site in conjunction with Egyptian Antiquities’ renovation of the fortress, to create an exhibition space for the results of the Sadana Island Shipwreck Excavation. However, our efforts at Qait Bey are on hold while the Egyptian Antiquities organization grapples with the politics of the castle’s ultimate disposition regarding artifacts.

In a six-month program, we trained the second half of the Egyptian Antiquities senior conservation staff nationwide (c. 65 people) in low-cost, wet artifact conservation techniques. The training program addressed the problems resulting from rising groundwater due to the construction of the High Dam and INA’s desire to be part of the solution by teaching others. The training program also funded a second climate-controlled storeroom in the laboratory, for organic materials, in preparation for the results of the Quseir excavation.

In 2000, based on INA’s experience in conservation laboratory construction and training, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) requested we conduct a nationwide survey of the country’s conservation needs. Our conclusions included recommendations for climate-controlled storerooms. When ARCE later requested proposals for conservation projects, we obtained a grant to install climate control in Egypt’s second museum, in Alexandria.

Thanks to the efforts of USAID, ARCE and INA, INA-Egypt will renovate the conservation laboratory of Egypt’s premier museum. We will install a world-class conservation laboratory, training facility and conduct conservation training in papyrus, textiles (King Tut’s wardrobe) and metals. The opportunities inherent in this project are infinite, and all of them began with INA.

The Red Sea, Eritrea. This excavation of a mid-first millennium shipwreck at Black Assarca Island was the first of its kind in the southern Red Sea. Investigation revealed a cargo of pottery probably originating in Aila, as Roman/Byzantine Aqaba (in Jordan) was once known. Glass and metal artifacts were also found, but to date no traces of hull. Due to political instability in the region, most importantly the recent war between Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia, the project remains on hiatus for the coming year.