Search Results (6)

Ballast is essential for vessels to lower their centre of gravity, improve stability, and ease their motion during sailing. During the modern period, heavy materials used for ballasting ships were an issue of particular concern for both authorities and ship owners, subjected to increasing control, regulation, and standardisation. These items represent a very common find in wreck sites and deserve special attention, as their characteristics, distribution, and provenance can deliver critical information for assessing where the vessel was ballasted, sailing routes, ship tonnage, and site formation processes. This article is centred on pig iron ingots, introduced in the early 18th century in sailing warships and shortly thereafter in sizeable merchant vessels, a type of ballast which is frequently overlooked in archaeological research. In particular, specimens retrieved from the Chilean Navy armed transport Infatigable (1855) were analysed through macroscopic and physicochemical characterisation using LM, SEM-EDS, WD-XRF, and IGF. The results obtained indicate the ingots were manufactured with cast iron of different quality, suggesting they may have come from different production centres. The investigation resulted in a better understanding of ballasting practices on a South American navy ship in the early post-independence period and provided new data for discussions of off-site and non-nautical technological issues, such as the materials, knowledge, and techniques associated with the production of pig iron in the mid-19th century. Full article

The Ribadeo shipwreck, identified as the San Giacomo di Galizia, lost in 1597 at Ribadeo, Galicia, Spain, is a unique example of a late 16th century Spanish warship. Brought to Ribadeo in the winter of 1597, this ship was salvaged, all the crew saved, and its remains abandoned. It was found in November 2011 during dredging operations, and it has been studied since. Excavated slowly at the pace allowed by the conservation budget, this site is revealing its secrets as the excavation progresses. This paper is an introduction to the ship’s history and a first report on the archaeological excavation of its hull remains. Full article

There are multiple approaches to bridging the gap between the relatively new world of three-dimensional survey and so-called reality-capture with traditional recording conventions and archaeological interpretative processes, challenges that have been encountered during the various fieldwork campaigns undertaken on the Ribadeo I wreck. Questions discussed in this paper include: does every team member need to be a 3D expert? Does a 3D specialist need to be an archaeologist? Is it enough to have a specialist 3D ‘navigator’, someone who can drive the software through the data and act as a guide to a wider team to deliver their own interpretation of the evidence? When conventional outputs are required, including plans, sections, profiles and other nautical-specific views, how can these be efficiently generated from the available photogrammetry and presented to provide comparable information to those who speak and require this type of visual language? This paper does not provide simple or definitive answers to these questions. However, the work undertaken so far on Ribadeo I can offer some contributions to current discussions and consider the challenges within the context of an internationally important shipwreck and work that is necessarily limited by available time and funds. Full article

Following Max Liboiron’s claim that pollution is colonialism, the anti-colonial maritime archaeologist’s role in the Anthropocene might be to reframe research questions, so that focus is directed toward interactions between marine and maritime, and that the colonial ‘resurrectionist’ approach that has dominated nautical archaeology ought to be reconsidered altogether. This normative statement is put to the test with a 4000-year-old waterlogged dugout canoe that was illegally excavated from the Cooper River in South Carolina, USA. Upon retrieval, the affected tribal entities were brought into consultation with archaeologists and conservators to help decide how to proceed with the canoe’s remains. Tribal representatives reached a consensus to preserve the canoe with PEG and display it in a public museum. This procedure follows the resurrectionist model typical of maritime archaeology in the West, now the dominant protocol globally, where the scholar acts as savior by lifting entire wrecks from watery graves and promising to grant them immortality in utopian museum spaces. However, this immortalizing procedure is at odds with some Indigenous values, voiced by tribal representatives, which embrace life cycles and distributed agency. In the end, the desire to preserve the canoe as a perpetual symbol of intertribal unity dominated concerns surrounding the canoe’s own life, spirit, and autonomy, and that plasticizing it would permanently alter its substance and essence. We argue that the object of the canoe has become subservient to its postcolonial symbolism of Indigenous unity, resilience, and resistance. Further, by subscribing to the resurrectionist model of maritime archaeology, the immortalized canoe now bears the irony of colonial metaphor, as an unintended consequence of its preservation. We echo Audre Lorde’s famous sentiment by wondering if an anticolonial maritime archaeology can ever hope to dismantle the master’s boat using the master’s tools. The conclusions reached here have implications for other maritime and museum contexts too, including the highly publicized case of the wrecked 1859–1860 slave ship, Clotilda. Full article

Public access to underwater and maritime cultural heritage has proven to have a very positive effect on the local economy. This type of heritage is very attractive for the cultural tourism sector in general and for active and diving tourism. The Nautical and Underwater Archeology Line of the University of Cadiz, within the framework of the TIDE Project (Interreg Atlantic Area) and Herakles Project (FEDER-UCA18-107327) have been working on the enhancement of maritime and underwater heritage through the application of new technologies. In this paper, we will present the advances in the project in the Strait of Gibraltar, based on the first phase of scientific analysis and on the definition of a common working methodology that has resulted in a toolkit for the development of tourism activities linked to the MCH and UCH. Pilot activities under development are focused on accessible underwater heritage routes, VR applications to create Dry Dive experiences and the streaming of underwater archaeological works, thanks to a bottom-surface acoustic communication buoy. Results show that these types of outreach solutions and, by extension, of tourism application, must be preceded by a rigorous archaeological research process, a study of the target audience and the evaluation of the carrying capacity of the sites, to avoid falling into the mercantilisation or deterioration of the UCH. On the other hand, virtual or indirect access solutions are very useful, but always through the correct interpretation of the heritage. Full article

In the past six decades since its inception, nautical archaeologists have excavated and studied the hulls, cargoes, and other remains of ancient watercraft. However, shipwrecks themselves only tell part of the story. The archaeological record is replete with examples of known shipwrecks from some cultures and periods, but, for others, no hulls exist in the known archaeological record. Vagaries of preservation generally prevent the upper parts and rigging of a vessel to survive in all but the most remarkable of cases. This paper reviews the role of iconographic representations in understanding ancient vessels and seafaring by presenting the issues, examining the limitations, proposing interpretative methods for, and finally by supplying specific examples of, ancient nautical depictions. Full article