A Practical Guide to Maritime Archaeology: with a Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region (Special Publicaton, Band 48) - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

Shipwrecks! Pirates! Sunken Treasure! The public never seems to get enough tales of swashbuckling sailors, their ships, and their adventures at sea. While many sea stories spring from the fertile imagination of fiction writers, many others—often rivaling or exceeding fictional accounts for excitement and adventure—are based on facts. Maritime historians and archaeologists scour archives, shorelines, and submerged lands in search of new details about our maritime past. This book introduces readers to the terminology, tools, and techniques used by maritime archaeologists in their quest for new sites that may add important details to the ever-expanding story of humans and their interaction with the seas, bays, and tributaries that link almost all the people of Earth. While the book focuses on New World sites, more specifically the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, much of the information is relevant to maritime research anywhere. The guide is essentially a textbook on maritime and underwater archaeology for nonprofessionals.

The book begins by describing the various terms relating to archaeology underwater, followed by descriptions of some of the most famous and significant shipwreck discoveries; the following chapters describe the types of maritime sites and provide a step-by-step description of how to develop a research plan, investigate an underwater archaeological site, and share research with others through publications, lectures, and social media. Excavation is not covered since that level of site disturbance should only be done by experienced professional archaeologists. Appendices provide suggestions for further reading, lists of agencies and organizations are involved in maritime archaeology, and detailed instruction and forms for conducting underwater research. The book is written in a conversational style, and the information is detailed, but easy to follow and understand.

The author, John Broadwater, has been conducting maritime archaeology projects for more than fifty years, much of it in the murky waters of the Mid-Atlantic where special methodologies are required to cope with the near-zero visibility. John was Virginia’s first State Underwater Archaeologist, directing a ten-year shipwreck project in the York River. John began diving in 1969 but had no knowledge of archaeological principles or techniques. He was fortunate to be offered opportunities to work with professional maritime archaeologists, but he still values his connections to recreational divers and avocational archaeologists, so he has devoted a great deal of time and effort providing opportunities for those groups to learn about and participate in his research. He was a founder of the Archeological Society of Virginia’s Maritime Heritage Chapter. This book is Broadwater’s most recent effort to promote educational training and opportunities for divers and avocational archaeologists.

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