Development of Tools and Techniques to Survey, Assess, Stabilise, Monitor and Preserve Underwater Archaeological Sites: Sasmap (original) (raw)
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Gregory, D., A.M. Eriksen, R. Pedersen, P. Jensen, M.H. Andersen, B. Davidde, M. Manders, T. Coenen, J. Dencker, C. Björdal, and B. Smith. 2014. Development of tools and techniques to survey, In ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints, Melbourne, 15–19 September 2014, ed. J. Bridgland, art. 2002, 7 pp. Paris: International Council of Museums. (ISBN 978-92-9012-410-8) The SASMAP project seeks to develop tools and techniques to enhance the management of underwater cultural heritage. The paper discusses those aspects of the project concerning the assessment of the site environment; assessment of the state of preservation of waterlogged archaeological wood; methods to raise fragile organic artefacts during excavation; and the use of artificial seagrass in order to stabilise sites that are preserved in situ. The project runs from 2012 to 2015 and the current paper serves as a progress report after the first year of the project.
Gregory, D. and Manders, M. (eds). Best practices for locating, surveying, assessing, monitoring and preserving underwater archaeological sites, 2015
Best practices for locating, surveying, assessing, monitoring and preserving underwater archaeological sites. A result from the EU-project SASMAP.
Archaeological Impact Assessments (AIA) in underwater environments
City of waters', Venice represents a unique example of the challenges to be met in order to reconcile the conflicting demands of heritage preservation, infrastructural development and environmental management. This paper expands on the strategic value of Archaeological Impact Assessments (AIA) -studies initiated in response to development proposals that will potentially disturb or alter archaeological sites -by presenting a case study related to an AIA undertaken in Venice prior to the construction of a pipeline stretching across the central and south parts of its lagoon (Fusina Integrated Project). The morphology of this area is very complex and di verse, and it is characterised by the presence of numerous canals, shallows and shoals, a landscape (or, rather, a waterscape) shaped by countless natural and anthropogenic modifications that occurred over the past centuries. The AIA involved the analysis of a variety of datasets acquired through historical, archaeological, geomorphologic and palaeo-environmental investigations coupled with information retrieved by remote sensing imagery analysis and interpretation, and direct survey. The analysis of these datasets led to the identification of a new, large archaeological site located along the planned pipeline track. The elevated 'archaeological sensitivity' of this area caused a change in the project plan, resulting in the relocation of the original pipeline track at an early stage of the work.
The knowledge of the submerged cultural heritage in the North Sea is rather limited. The Belgian North Sea is being used for a lot of different purposes, such as fishing, aggregate extraction, wind farms, dredging, etc. Due to these increasing economic activities, the underwater archive is in danger. In the context of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage of 2001, gathering more information about the submerged cultural heritage in the intertidal zones of the North Sea is one of the main objectives of the Belgian scientific project 'SeArch'. It will give a clearer picture of the broader cultural and archaeological heritage in the region and it can be used as a basis for a sustainable management by government agencies. The Department of Geography (Ghent University, Belgium) contributes to the SeArch project in two ways. First, an innovative survey methodology has been developed which allows an accurate and cost-efficient evaluation of the archaeological potential in the intertidal zones of the Belgian beaches. Secondly, the Department of Geography is developing an interactive webGIS platform, which makes it possible to share, integrate and visualize the gathered archaeological and environmental data and information in a user-friendly way. Hereby, the total potential of this project is fully exploited in a time-efficient manner. To create an interactive webGIS platform, a good structured spatial database is needed. It enables manipulation of a wide variety of georeferenced information in both raster and vector formats. This paper provides more information about the configuration and application of the spatial database. Moreover, it focusses on the development of a fully functional Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) using the most reliable, powerful and state-of-the-art technological components. Besides, a new way of collecting geomatic data in a fast and accurate manner will be discussed. Some processing results will show the possibilities for detecting and visualizing underground structures and archaeological objects.