Christopher Dewey's Blog

A Czech team of archaeologists are uncovering a 4500 year old Egyptian boat buried near a mastaba (large rectangular tomb) near Abusir, approximately 15 km (9.3 miles) south of Cairo. The team has been excavating the burial site for several years. The practice of burying boats near tombs was common in ancient Egypt, but construction methods make this boat unique. From the description, the vessel appears to be a sewn boat in which planks were tied together using ropes or other lines.

This news article discusses the statistics behind the estimated number of shipwrecks worldwide and how very few of them have been discovered and visited by humans.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a19000/less-than-one-percent-wor...

The Maritime Archaeological Society (MAS) is holding their annual meeting of the membership, 20-21 Feb, in Astoria, OR. The event will feature presentations on all the MAS field projects over the last year as well as planned shipwreck investigations. The keynote speaker will be world renowned archaeologist and director of the Beeswax Wreck Project, Scott Williams. The annual meeting will also include training sessions for members in preparation for this summer's field activities.

The presentations and keynote speaker are open to the public. The event kicks off at 9:00 am on Saturday, 20 Feb.

Come join the fun!

This article seems to be everywhere lately, even in my local newspaper. The idea of using the wide-area detection capabilities of satellites has been the "holy grail" of shipwreck hunting. The hope that technicians could someday sit in a communications center or laboratory and watch as colored images on computer monitors pinpointed shipwrecks has been a dream of many modern shipwreck archaeologists. Indeed, this hope was given new life recently as Dr. Sarah Parcak, Ph.D announced that she is using space-based imagery to locate hundreds or thousands of archaeological sites on land.

The article discusses the use of space-base satellite imagery to detect the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) generated by shipwrecks in the oceans. The physics of looking beneath the surface of the ocean and through sometimes rapid ocean currents are similar, but also quite different from Dr. Parcak's search on land.

The image accompanying the store is a conventional multi-beam sonar image and not a picture from a satellite.

http://www.ulster.ac.uk/es/detecting-shipwrecks-from-space-3/

Here's an article on Dr. Parcak's efforts:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sarah-parcak-space-archaeologist-1452887899

Probably the biggest story this week comes from our friends in the UK. While searching the sea floor of a proposed offshore wind farm, archaeologists discovered the wrecks of over 60 vessels. One of them was a World War I German U-boat. The boat had been missing in action since January 1915. Three dimensional, multi-beam, sonar helped locate and identify the wreck. The U-boat is likely a war grave and will be protected from the planned wind farm construction.

http://archaeology.org/news/4088-160121-wwi-german-submarine

Last week members of the Maritime Archaeological Society (MAS) conducted a survey of an "admiralty style" anchor recovered from Bakers Bay, Washington. The team, all members of the Maritime Archaeology Survey Team (MAST), traveled to the U. S. Coast Guard Station, Cape Disappointment, Washington, were they recorded the details of the anchor. The report was uploaded to the Big Anchor Project website where it became anchor #742. The anchor most likely dates to the mid-nineteenth century.

The admiralty anchor became snagged on the anchor of one of the Coast Guard's 47 ft motor lifeboats during training in Bakers Bay. Unable to unfoul the boat's anchor, the crew drug the snag back to base where the station crew helped bring the old anchor ashore. After attempts to arrange a proper conservation of the anchor failed, the State of Washington donated the anchor to the Cape Disappointment Coast Guard Station.

http://maritimearchaeological.org
http://www.biganchorproject.com/

The continuing search for the wreck of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has turned up another shipwreck. You may remember a story from May 2015 when the search discovered a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. Now, the search for the missing plane has found what appears to be a steal or iron hulled vessel from the nineteenth century. The shipwreck is more than 2 miles deep at the bottom of the Southern Indian Ocean.

The well preserved hull remains of an eighteenth century ship have been discovered at an Alexandria, VA construction project. The site is part of a Potomac River redevelopment effort. Visible in the photo are the ship's keel, outer hull strakes (planks), frame timbers, and even ceiling planks. Archaeologists are working to remove the wood and search for artifacts before construction continues.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/preserved-in-a-watery-grave/2016/01...

This New York Times OpEd article discusses the idea of national governments using shipwrecks as excuses for claiming land and sea rights. The concept of using archaeology as a means of tying current regimes to past cultures is not new. Mussolini conducted archaeological digs in Italy searching for Roman sites that he believed would bind the disparate peoples of Italy into one nation, the descendants of the Roman Empire. He even went so far as to drain lake Nemi to recover Caligula’s luxurious party barges.

When put in proper historical context the Times article has some merit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/opinion/could-shipwrecks-lead-the-worl...

Bulgarian oceanographers and archaeologist have discovered over 25 shipwrecks off their coast in the Black Sea. The investigation was part of an underwater survey for a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Bulgaria. The pipeline deal fell through, but the result was large number of previously unknown wrecks located along the proposed pipeline's route.

One wreck has been tentatively identified as a galley (manually rowed warship) at a depth of over 1400 meters (4600 ft). Another was the wreck of what Bulgarian officials call a 500 year old pirate ship. Most of the wrecks are well beyond diving depth, but the article did mention that at least some could be reached by divers. Bulgaria does not have a budget for investigating such archaeological treasures, but maybe someday another organization can mount a successful expedition to the depths of the Black Sea.

http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2015/11/04/bulgarias-oceanology-institu...