tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/maritime-archaeology-1530/articlesMaritime archaeology – The Conversation2024-02-15T14:45:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236652024-02-15T14:45:00Z2024-02-15T14:45:00ZStone Age ‘megastructure’ under Baltic Sea sheds light on strategy used by Palaeolithic hunters over 10,000 years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575948/original/file-20240215-20-135c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1917%2C1080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Artist's impression of the Blinkerwall: the ancient stone wall used as a hunting structure.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/university/details/news/022-stone-age-hunter">Michał Grabowski</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2312008121">oldest human-made megastructure</a>, submerged 21 metres below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. This structure – which has been named the Blinkerwall – is a continuous low wall made from over 1,500 granite stones that runs for almost a kilometre. The evidence suggests it was constructed by Palaeolithic people between 11,700 and 9,900 years ago, probably as an aid for hunting reindeer.</p>
<p>The archaeologists investigating the Bay of Mecklenburg used a range of submarine equipment, sampling methods and modelling techniques to reconstruct the ancient lake bed and its surrounding landscape. This revealed that the Blinkerwall stands on a ridge running east to west, with a 5km-wide lake basin a few metres below the ridge to the south. </p>
<p>The human, rather than natural, origin for the Blinkerwall was confirmed by an archaeological diving team who photographed sections of the wall. These show that it is made up of 288 very large boulders, which were probably dropped in that location by the retreating glacier, connected by 1,673 smaller stones. </p>
<p>These smaller stones appear to have been collected from the immediate vicinity, as the area just to the north of the wall has many fewer stones than the areas even further north. The resulting structure stands a little under a metre in height and up to two metres wide, with remarkable regularity over its 971-metre length.</p>
<h2>A different landscape</h2>
<p>At the time of its construction, the landscapes and seascapes of northwest Europe were very different from today. The climate was beginning to warm as the colder Pleistocene era ended and the warmer Holocene era began. Sea levels were much lower, and large glaciers sat over much of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennoscandia">Fennoscandia</a>. </p>
<p>The land around the Baltic Sea basin was rising rapidly, released from the weight of the retreating glaciers and transforming a brackish body of water known as the Yoldia sea into the freshwater Ancylus lake. Great Britain was a peninsula of the European continental landmass, with a vast lowland plain <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/doggerland/">known as Doggerland</a> stretching from Norfolk to the Netherlands. Herds of reindeer, European bison and wild horse migrated across its sparsely forested landscape.</p>
<p>In cultural terms, this period, known as the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.0264">Late Upper Palaeolithic</a>, is marked by significant hallmarks in technological innovation by the people who lived at this time. Dogs <a href="https://academic.oup.com/af/article/4/3/23/4638686">had been recently domesticated</a>; there are regionally distinct forms of stone projectile points; and there is frequent use of decorated bone and <a href="https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?MNF11171-Mesolithic-harpoon-from-Leman-and-Ower-Bank-Doggerland">antler harpoons</a>, as well as specialist hunting strategies employed to target migrating prey.</p>
<p>The identification of the Blinkerwall now demonstrates that Palaeolithic hunters were managing their landscape to aid their hunting activities more deliberately than was previously thought.</p>
<p>Construction of walls and other features in the landscape is familiar to us, particularly in the context of land enclosure for farming. Both contemporary and ancient societies that have traditionally subsisted by hunting and gathering wild resources are also known to alter their environments by constructing features such as stone walls. These are used for a variety of purposes including fishing, shellfishing and hunting. </p>
<p>The researchers compared the Blinkerwall to other archaeologically documented structures of a similar length and construction type that have been <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-09-02-oxford-archaeologists-discover-monumental-evidence-prehistoric-hunting-across">identified in the Middle East</a>, <a href="https://news.umich.edu/prehistoric-caribou-hunting-structure-discovered-beneath-lake-huron/">North America</a>, Canada and Greenland. These structures are interpreted as having been built for the purpose of game drive hunting. In this strategy, hunters use landscape and built features to gain an advantage over their prey by directing its movements to a location where they are more vulnerable to attack by other hunters. </p>
<p>The similarity of the Blinkerwall to these other structures, and its construction adjacent to a body of water, led to the suggestion that the wall had been created for the same purpose. The lake itself may also have been used in this strategy.</p>
<h2>Supporting evidence</h2>
<p>One archaeological site from Germany that supports this interpretation is <a href="https://www.academia.edu/71486857/Dating_the_lost_arrow_shafts_from_Stellmoor_Schleswig_Holstein_Germany_">Stellmoor</a>, located just north of Hamburg and which dates to the latest time that the Blinkerwall could have been constructed. </p>
<p>The site is located at the end of a narrow valley where thousands of reindeer bones – some bearing hunting impact traces, flint points and even pinewood arrow shafts – were found preserved in the ancient lake sediments. The hunting evidence at Stellmoor shows the reindeer were shot by arrows as they were driven down the valley into the lake. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Northern and Central Europe in the Late Upper Palaeolithic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575955/original/file-20240215-18-yv51yg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Northern and Central Europe in the Late Upper Palaeolithic (white areas = ice-covered).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://zbsa.eu/european-prehistoric-and-historic-atlas/">Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>While there is no archaeological evidence at Stellmoor to suggest people had deliberately created or changed the landscape to enhance their hunting success, it shows how the topography of the landscape was used to the hunters’ advantage. The Blinkerwall construction provides evidence that Palaeolithic people took this level of planning and coordination a step further. </p>
<p>It shows they recognised and understood the instincts of their prey so well that they were able to predict their movements – and how they would react when faced with an artificially created obstacle like the Blinkerwall.</p>
<p>The discovery of this monumental piece of hunting architecture is unique in Europe. At a maximum of 11,700 years old, it is one of the oldest examples in the world, potentially predating a desert hunting “kite” at <a href="https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/dating-a-near-eastern-desert-hunting-trap-kite-using-rock-surface">Jibal al-Gadiwiyt</a> in Jordan by over a thousand years. </p>
<p>The Blinkerwall adds a new element to our understanding of the highly skilled and specialised hunting strategies engineered by people at the end of the last glacial period – strategies that have continued to be used in different landscapes for millennia. And the discoveries are unlikely to stop here. </p>
<p>The Bay of Mecklenburg has the potential to reveal further archaeological evidence of equal significance. The researchers do not rule out the possibility that another wall or other associated features could be found, buried under later sedimentation of the ancient lake. </p>
<p>If weapons, tools or animal remains were to be recovered at the site, this would reveal information about the nature and duration of its use – and far greater insights into the sophisticated subsistence strategies of the Palaeolithic hunters of the Baltic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Piper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The find represents Europe’s largest human-made megastructure.Stephanie Piper, Lecturer in Archaeology, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763632022-02-03T03:30:57Z2022-02-03T03:30:57ZHas Captain Cook’s ship Endeavour been found? Debate rages, but here’s what’s usually involved in identifying a shipwreck<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444204/original/file-20220203-17157-okuidt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C1424%2C1018&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour#/media/File:HMS_Endeavour_off_the_coast_of_New_Holland,_by_Samuel_Atkins_c.1794.jpg">WikiCommons/Illustration by Samuel Atkins </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian National Maritime Museum has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/endeavour-found-in-us-after-22-year-search/100800894">announced</a> a shipwreck found in Newport Harbour, off Rhode Island in the United States, has been confirmed as Captain Cook’s ship, HMB Endeavour. </p>
<p>There have been very similar <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/captain-cook-endeavour-boat-intl/index.html">announcements</a> made over the years but have they finally made a definitive case?</p>
<p>By making its <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/captain-james-cook-endeavour-found-museum-says/100800894">announcement</a>, the Australian National Maritime Museum seems to have decided so, and there does seem to have been significant recent progress, centred on one shipwreck that matches the known details of the Endeavour closely.</p>
<p>However, reports soon emerged lead investigator on the Endeavour discovery – Dr Kathy Abbass from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project – described the announcement as “premature” and that there “has been no indisputable data found.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1489044348151169024"}"></div></p>
<p>The announcement by the museum includes <a href="https://youtu.be/3QPqxsRYjm4">recognition</a> that there is not, and may never be, definitive proof but they appear satisfied the case has been made within reasonable doubt. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Video: Australian National Maritime Museum.</span></figcaption>
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<p>I wasn’t part of this particular investigation so it’s not for me to say if this ship is Endeavour or not. But I have worked on many shipwreck investigations and have been involved in the discovery of a couple of shipwreck sites of this period. </p>
<p>So I can share a little bit about what’s usually involved in trying to piece together the identity of a ship when a wreck is found.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sunken-history-how-to-study-and-care-for-shipwrecks-6450">Sunken history: how to study and care for shipwrecks</a>
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<h2>From the survey site to the lab</h2>
<p>The first thing you will need is a detailed survey of the site. The process is similar to an archaeological survey on land, but for most shipwrecks you will be underwater. That makes it more difficult to take measurements precisely. Nowadays we also use 3D imaging techniques, high-resolution sonar and other specialist equipment to achieve a survey that is objective and highly accurate.</p>
<p>We focus on identifying “diagnostic features”, things that can identify the site and tie it to a particular period and ship-building tradition. </p>
<p>This could be the way the keel is built and how it is attached, or dimensions of timber frames. Often it is the smallest details that can hint at a certain ship-building tradition. One really useful indicator is the way the wood has been fastened together. Is it done with iron nails? In layers? Or tied with rope in a certain way?</p>
<p>Once your survey is complete, you might undertake some sampling to recover artefacts. We generally try to remove as little as possible of a shipwreck. The gold standard is to leave as much in-situ as possible but it is common to recover some material for analysis in the lab, such as bricks, cannon balls, timber, coins; anything that can help establish a chronology for a shipwreck.</p>
<p>Once you have got your evidence from the site, you can move onto analysis in the lab.</p>
<p>For timber, we often use a technique called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/dendrochronology">dendrochronology</a>, which is analysis of tree growth patterns. If you have enough timber of the right type, you can work out almost to the year when the timber was felled and even where it was grown.</p>
<p>We might x-ray metal materials, trying to work out what the objects originally looked like.</p>
<h2>Sifting through historical records</h2>
<p>Then we move onto historical research, analysing records of all ships lost in that general area. </p>
<p>We may draw on newspaper reports from the time, salvage records and marine insurance claims. Indeed, marine insurance was the original insurance because shipwreck was once so common and so costly.</p>
<p>We might look for court records to see if there was a dispute about the disposal of shipwreck material in that area at some point.</p>
<p>Historical attempts to salvage valuable material may also leave a paper trail and it was common to try to recover brass cannons (which were extremely valuable).</p>
<p>Shipwreck survivor accounts can be very valuable – these were often published as a popular reading material from the 17th century onward.</p>
<p>One of the best sources can be oral traditions and community memories; the story of a significant shipwreck can survive in local memory for generations. Just talking to local people can provide quite a lot of unique information.</p>
<h2>It isn’t easy</h2>
<p>Identification of a shipwreck is not easy.</p>
<p>In any given area, there are likely to be multiple records of shipwrecks. The task is usually to eliminate those recorded ship losses that don’t match up with the clues you have collected. </p>
<p>And there are often close similarities between ship types that make it hard to identify an exact ship. The Spanish Armada, for instance, resulted in the loss of many ships from the same area at the same time, so if you find one, it is easy to know it is an Armada ship, but much harder to say which one. </p>
<p>Working in a marine environment complicates matters greatly. Wooden shipwrecks tend to be poorly preserved on the seabed. If they are quite old, what you really get is the survival of the non-wooden parts; cannon balls, cannons, metal objects and glass. </p>
<p>That makes it difficult because shipwrecks are a huge collection of material and some of the material may be much older than the shipwreck itself, which can suggest a wreck is older than it really is.</p>
<p>You can also have shipwrecks that have more recent material on the site that has drifted there from elsewhere in the sea or even from another shipwreck. In Iceland we investigated a <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8812007/">17th century shipwreck</a> which had been partially covered by a later shipwreck.</p>
<p>Identifying ships is a long, arduous and painstaking process that usually takes many years and involves a host of challenges along the way. At all times, it is vital as a maritime archaeologist to remain objective and not fall into the trap of trying to bend evidence to fit a theory you have fallen in love with. </p>
<p>The repeated headlines about the Endeavour may have made some of the project team wary about definitive claims, but there will also be sites that we cannot prove the identity of with absolute certainty, and we will be forced to make our best judgement call.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-now-weve-found-the-site-of-the-lost-australian-freighter-ss-iron-crown-sunk-in-wwii-115848">What happens now we've found the site of the lost Australian freighter SS Iron Crown, sunk in WWII</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John McCarthy receives funding from the ARC and the Dutch Embassy in Australia. He is a regional councillor for the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology and assistant editor of their journal.</span></em></p>I have worked on many shipwreck investigations and have been involved in the discovery of a couple of shipwreck sites of this period. Here’s what’s usually involved in identifying a ship.John McCarthy, ARC DECRA Fellow, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1397952020-06-09T13:36:12Z2020-06-09T13:36:12ZTitanic salvage: recovering the ship’s radio could signal a disaster for underwater cultural heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340308/original/file-20200608-176554-fqo3qk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titanic_wreck_bow.jpg">NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The RMS Titanic’s Marconi radio was last used to make distress calls from the north Atlantic after the ship struck an iceberg on April 14 1912. Now the radio could become the target of a salvage operation after a private company was <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/19/us/titanic-radio-court-ruling/index.html">granted permission</a> to recover the artefact from the wreck’s interior.</p>
<p>This recovery for profit is directly at odds with the ethics of modern archaeological practice. It also raises questions about legal protection for shipwrecks such as the Titanic and how we choose to value our shared cultural heritage. </p>
<p>A federal judge for the Virginia Eastern district in the US has ruled that RMS Titanic Inc., which owns salvage rights to the shipwreck, can retrieve the radio. This is despite the fact the operation may involve damage to the hull, much of which remains intact 12,500 feet (3,800 metres) underwater. This case reverses a <a href="https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/etc/titanic2.html">previous ruling</a> from 28 July 2000 that prevents damage to the ship in line with existing agreements.</p>
<p>This won’t be the first time items are salvaged from the shipwreck. Since the Titanic was located in 1985, there has been a battle to safeguard it. Even with international recognition of its historical and cultural importance, including <a href="https://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic-act.html">through legislation</a>, by 1987 over a thousand artefacts had been salvaged.</p>
<p>After multiple court cases, a ruling allowed artefacts to be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/titanic-show-goes-on-despite-grave-robbing-row-maritime-museum-says-it-is-satisfied-none-of-the-1430981.html">publicly exhibited</a>. The court refused a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-cultural-heritage-law-9780198723516?cc=gb&lang=en&">subsequent request</a> to sell the artefacts in 2001 and further planned auctions were subsequently postponed.</p>
<p>But the recent ruling, allowing invasive salvage of the radio, differs from previous ones in that it is now <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00908320.2013.750978">more than 100 years</a> since the ship sank. As of April 15 2012, the RMS Titanic falls under the <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/underwater-cultural-heritage/2001-convention/">2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage</a>.</p>
<p>This provides some protection to the Titanic by forbidding the commercial exploitation of heritage. The US and UK are not signatories to the convention but broadly honour its principles via legislation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340317/original/file-20200608-176538-1s2lwrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Titanic captain’s bathtub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/titanic/logs/photolog/photolog.html#cbpi=/titanic/media/slideshow03/11.html">ROI, IFE, NOAA-OE</a></span>
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<p>The US <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/244/text">2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act</a> specifically forbids “any research, exploration, salvage, or other activity that would physically alter or disturb the wreck or wreck site of the RMS Titanic unless authorized”. </p>
<p>The act adds that any such work should be in line with the <a href="https://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic-intl.html">Multilateral Agreement Concerning RMS Titanic</a>. This agreement (which came into force in November 2019) between the US, UK, Canada and France recognises the wreck for its international significance and as a memorial to the 1,514 people who lost their lives. </p>
<p>The agreement explicitly states that any recovered materials should be kept together as a collection to enable study. Materials should be left on the seabed unless there are compelling educational, scientific or cultural interests that require an intervention. </p>
<h2>Public interest?</h2>
<p>In the recent <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.115575/gov.uscourts.vaed.115575.612.0.pdf">court hearing</a>, the US government agency the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, advised that the proposed salvage of the radio did not clearly meet these criteria. </p>
<p>The justification for the removal of the radio was made on the basis of its unique status, interest to the public and the threat that it will be lost to degradation in coming years. Each of these are valid points. The radio has a unique story, is highly evocative and will (like the majority of materials) eventually degrade.</p>
<p>But the estimated rate of this degradation <a href="https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/etc/titanic1.html">is controversial</a>. The ship lies at such depth that conditions are fairly stable, and it seems that much of the damage to the ship since its discovery is due to salvage activity. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340310/original/file-20200608-176542-lw7k1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Titanic wreck is a memorial to those who lost their lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/sinking-titanic-illustration-by-german-artist-237232216">Willy Stower/Everett Historical/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The RMS Titanic may not be the oldest shipwreck in the world, but it is arguably one of the most famous. The site is internationally recognised as a memorial to those who lost their lives. </p>
<p>From an archaeological perspective, recovering the radio will involve further damage to the memorial site for very limited gain with regard to scientific and cultural knowledge. We already know the make, model and history of this radio. So motivation for the salvage appears to lie in the radio’s economic potential as a tourist attraction and through a possible future sale. </p>
<p>As archaeologists we understand there are times when intrusive and destructive interventions are required. But such acts need to be carefully considered in light of their impact on our shared global heritage. Once such actions take place they cannot be undone.</p>
<p>A court ruling for such a culturally significant site that goes against <a href="https://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_titanic.html">advice from NOAA</a> and counter to the principles of UNESCO, risks suggesting that the principles of shared heritage and selective intervention can be easily negated through simplistic arguments of degradation and profit. </p>
<p>Once artefacts are removed from shipwrecks, they lose their context and potentially their wider scientific and cultural value. Commercial exploitation gives them a different, financial value that could encourage looting and site destruction. If it is acceptable to salvage material from what is arguably the wold’s most famous shipwreck, how can we protect lesser known sites that are even more scientifically or culturally important? </p>
<p>As maritime archaeologists, we strive to protect underwater cultural heritage in the face of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/18/mediterranean-shipwrecks-reveal-birth-of-globalisation-in-trade">ongoing destruction</a> of underwater sites that would not be tolerated on dry land, where cultural heritage is more visible to the authorities and public. So, while this salvage operation may be legal, we strongly query whether it is ethical.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Farr is currently co-chair of the UNESCO Unitwin Network for Underwater Archaeology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fraser Sturt is co-chair of the UNESCO Unitwin Network for Underwater Archaeology. </span></em></p>A recent ruling allowing a new expedition to the Titanic wreck gives the go ahead to commercial exploitation.Helen Farr, Associate Professor in Archaeology, University of SouthamptonFraser Sturt, Professor of Archaeology, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1035242018-09-19T05:25:35Z2018-09-19T05:25:35ZAs we celebrate the rediscovery of the Endeavour let’s acknowledge its complicated legacy<p>Researchers, including Australian maritime archaeologists, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/hms-endeavour-found-one-of-the-greatest-maritime-mysteries-of-all-time-solved-20180919-p504lx.html">believe they have found</a> Captain Cook’s historic ship HMB Endeavour in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. An official announcement will be made on Friday. </p>
<p>The discovery is the culmination of decades of work by the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project and the Australian National Maritime Museum to locate and positively identify the vessel, which had been missing from the historical record for over two centuries. Plans are now under way to raise funds to excavate and conduct scientific testing in 2019.</p>
<p>As the first European seafaring vessel to reach the east coast of Australia, the Endeavour – much like James Cook himself – has become part of Australia’s national mythology. Unlike Cook, who famously met his end on Hawaiian shores, the fate of the Endeavour had long been unknown. The discovery has therefore resolved a long-standing maritime mystery. </p>
<p>In a serendipitous twist, it coincides with two significant dates: the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s departure from England in 1768 on its now (in)famous voyage south, and the 240th anniversary of the ship’s scuttling in 1778 during the American War of Independence.</p>
<p>Identifying the Endeavour’s location has been a 25-year processs. Archaeologists initially identified 13 potential candidates in the harbour. Over time, the number of possible sites was narrowed to five. </p>
<p>This month, a joint diving team has worked to measure and inspect these sites, drawing upon knowledge of Endeavour’s size to identify a likely candidate. Excavation and timber analysis is expected to provide final confirmation. Those expecting an entire ship to be recovered will be disappointed, as very little of it remains.</p>
<p>But this is a controversial vessel, and celebrations of its discovery will be tempered by reflection about its complicity in the British colonisation of Indigenous Australian land. While Endeavour played an instrumental role in advancing science and exploration, its arrival in what is now known as Botany Bay in 1770 also precipitated the occupation of territory that its Aboriginal owners never ceded.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-captain-cook-became-a-contested-national-symbol-96344">How Captain Cook became a contested national symbol</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A ship by any other name …</h2>
<p>Although Endeavour’s early days are well known, it has taken many years for researchers to piece together the rest of its story. One problem has been the many names the vessel was known by during its lifetime. </p>
<p>Built in 1764 in Whitby, England, as a collier (coal carrier), the vessel was originally named Earl of Pembroke. Its flat-bottomed hull and box-like shape, designed to transport bulk cargo, later proved helpful when navigating the treacherous coral reefs of the southern seas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237011/original/file-20180919-158219-1b9a33y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Endeavour, then known as Earl of Pembroke, leaving Whitby Harbour in 1768. Painting by Thomas Luny, c. 1790. (Some think Luny painted another ship after Endeavour became famous.)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Endeavour,_Thomas_Luny_1768.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1768, Earl of Pembroke was sold into the service of the Royal Navy and the Royal Society. It underwent a major refit to accommodate a larger crew and sufficient provisions for a long voyage. In keeping with the ambitious spirit of the era, the vessel was renamed His Majesty’s Bark (HMB) Endeavour (bark being a nautical term to describe a ship with three masts or more).</p>
<p>Endeavour departed England in 1768 under the command of then-Lieutenant Cook. Ostensibly sailing to the South Pacific to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus, Cook was also under orders to search for the fabled southern continent. So it was that a coal carrier and a rare astronomical event changed the history of the Australian continent and its people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transit-of-venus-a-tale-of-two-expeditions-7246">Transit of Venus: a tale of two expeditions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Mysterious ends</h2>
<p>Following Endeavour’s circumnavigation of the globe (1768-1771), the vessel was used as a store ship before the Royal Navy sold it in 1775. Here, the ship’s fate become mysterious. </p>
<p>Many believed it had been renamed La Liberté and put to use as a French whaling ship before succumbing to rotting timbers in Newport Harbour in 1793. Others rejected this theory, suggesting instead that Endeavour had spent her final days on the river Thames. </p>
<p>A breakthrough came in 1997. Australian researchers suggested the Endeavour had in fact been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41562984?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">renamed Lord Sandwich</a>. The theory gained weight following an archival discovery by Kathy Abbass, director of the Rhode Island project, in 2016, which indicated that Lord Sandwich had been used as a troop transport and prison ship during the American War of Independence before being scuttled in Newport Harbour in 1778.</p>
<p>Lord Sandwich was one of a number of transport ships <a href="https://anmm.blog/2016/05/06/the-search-for-endeavour-the-rhode-island-marine-archaeology-project-and-the-australian-national-maritime-museum/">deliberately sunk</a> by the British in an attempt to prevent the French fleet from approaching the shore. </p>
<p>Finding a shipwreck is not impossible, but finding the one you’re looking for is hard. Rhode Island volunteers have been searching for this vessel since 1993, slowly narrowing down the search area and eliminating potential contenders as they explore the often-murky waters of Newport Harbour. </p>
<p>They were joined in their efforts by the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1999 and, in more recent years, by the <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/dive-into-the-murky-depths-seeks-scuppered-history/news-story/b5e74a78f18eaa6a023367c6277cdbcf">Silentworld Foundation</a>, a not-for-profit organisation with a particular interest in Australasian maritime archaeology.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237010/original/file-20180919-158234-9ez3tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Endeavour’s voyage across the Pacific Ocean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:HM_Bark_Endeavour_(ship,_1764)#/media/File:Endeavour_track_chart.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Museums around the world are already turning their attention to the significant <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/we-recommend/attractions/pacific-encounters">Cook anniversaries</a> on the horizon and the complex legacy of these expeditions. These interpretive endeavours will only be heightened by the planned excavation of the ship’s remains in the near future. </p>
<p>Shipwrecks are a productive starting point for thinking about how we make meaning from the past because of the firm hold they have on the public imagination. They conjure images of lost treasure, pirates and, especially in the case of Endeavour, bold adventures to distant lands.</p>
<p>But as we celebrate the spirit of exploration that saw a humble coal carrier circumnavigate the globe – and the same spirit of exploration that has led to its discovery centuries later – we must also make space for the unsettling stories that will resurface as a result of this discovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Natali Pearson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the first European seafaring vessel to reach the east coast of Australia, the Endeavour – much like James Cook himself – has become part of Australia’s national mythology.Dr Natali Pearson, Deputy Director, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/380122015-02-27T11:02:00Z2015-02-27T11:02:00ZAncient Britons had wheat 2000 years before they had farms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73231/original/image-20150226-1828-vvjqjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Now which of us is going to invent an oven?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Каменный_век_(1).jpg">Victor Vasnetsov, 1882-1885</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wheat has been found in a settlement on England’s south coast dating back to 6000BC – 2000 years before farming reached Britain. This finding overturns many cherished archaeological beliefs – or myths – about the era. Though they were once patronised as simplistic hunter-gatherers, it turns out early Britons must have been active traders with the agricultural superpowers of their day in France and the Balkans. It’s time to reassess Mesolithic man.</p>
<p>The introduction of farming is usually regarded as a defining historic moment for human societies. Agriculture creates the conditions for permanent settlement, urbanisation and complex societies. </p>
<p>The positive impact and significance of farming, starting during the period known as the Neolithic, is often contrasted harshly with preceding hunter gatherer cultures. These societies, associated with a period entitled the Mesolithic in Britain (c. 10,000-4000 BC), were relatively mobile and the passage of time has been unforgiving in respect of the survival of their material culture. </p>
<p>This has meant a tendency to presume the peoples of pre-farming Britain were socially simple and geographically isolated. The recent TV show <a href="http://www.channel5.com/shows/10000-bc">10,000 BC</a>, which approximates this period, perpetuates the view that life at this time was simply “nasty, brutish and short” with little for people to do other than eat hazelnuts as they waited patiently for wiser peoples from the East to arrive along with the lifestyle benefits of the new technology – farming.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73229/original/image-20150226-1819-1wady5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mesolithic northern Europe had lots of extra land (light green).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eleanor Ramsey</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet Mesolithic societies were as complex as any other. For instance, the earliest built ritual monuments in Britain, usually associated with farming societies, emerged as early as 9000BC near Stonehenge and one structure in Scotland may represent a calendrical device nearly <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130715-worlds-oldest-calendar-lunar-cycle-pits-mesolithic-scotland/">5000 years older than the first historical calendars</a>. The first permanent homes and domestication of animals including the dog also occurred before the introduction of farming. </p>
<p>Yet, the use of grain and specifically wheat, remained essentially absent and a key indicator of farming in regions far from south west Asia, where grain was domesticated 12000 years ago. Consequently, a debate continues as to whether farming was introduced following colonisation by groups already practising agriculture or the new technology was adopted by indigenous hunter gatherer populations. Was farming a movement of people or ideas?</p>
<p>Farming is thought to have been introduced to Britain in around 4000BC, perhaps held back by the island’s new isolation following sea level rises at the end of the ice age. The same processes, however, also provide an opportunity to preserve evidence and Britain’s continental shelf has exceptional archaeological potential. </p>
<h2>Under the sea</h2>
<p>To investigate whether early traces of farming might be preserved in sediments on the sea bed, we gathered a team from the Universities of Birmingham, Bradford and Warwick, together with the Maritime Archaeology Trust.</p>
<p>Our results, just published in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1261278">Science</a>, suggest that grain, rather than indicating the onset of farming, was actually present in Mesolithic settlements in Britain 2000 years before local agriculture.</p>
<p>We found evidence of grain after analysing DNA recovered from the uniquely preserved Bouldnor Cliff off the south coast of Britain. In the past ancient DNA has most commonly been obtained from anatomically intact material, such as hair, bones and teeth. It has only recently become clear that DNA can also be retrieved from other materials, including sediments, or SedaDNA – a discovery which has the potential to revolutionise the field. </p>
<p>The sedaDNA sequences at Bouldnor Cliff suggested a mixed habitat of oak forest and herbaceous plants, much as we would expect. We found traces of animals that could indicate human activity – lots of dogs, for instance, and aurochs (ancestors of the modern cow), as well as deer, grouse and rodents.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73230/original/image-20150226-1828-1uwxvlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Garry Momber of Maritime Archaeology Trust with 8,000 year old Bouldnor Cliff flints.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, in later sediments, dated to 6000 BC, the results revealed the presence of Einkorn wheat. This was 2000 years earlier than expected and at a time when the cutting edge of agriculture may have lain in the northern Balkans or possibly on the Mediterranean coast of France.</p>
<h2>Mesolithic marketplace</h2>
<p>What does this mean? In the absence of direct evidence for cultivation, it seems likely that wheat was imported rather than grown locally. If so the implications are considerable. </p>
<p>The presence of wheat suggests the existence of a web of social networks stretching between Mesolithic Britain and the advancing Neolithic front far to the south and east. Far from being simple or isolated, the Mesolithic peoples of southern Britain were probably engaged in trading or gifting exotic foodstuffs across much of continental Europe – it seems absolutely unreasonable to imply that hunter gatherer groups were passive recipients in such an exchange.</p>
<p>The results also indicate that key historical events, including the arrival of people in the Americas and agricultural development of Southeast Asia, may also be best explored through investigating the extensive land masses that were lost to the seas as a consequence of global warming. The results of the work at Bouldnor Cliff now suggests that that such landscapes also retain caches of genetic material that may not be preserved or even represented on land. If so the analysis of marine sediments may be an archaeological “game-changer”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38012/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vince Gaffney receives funding from EPSRC </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Allaby receives funding from NERC.</span></em></p>New discovery is evidence of trade with continental Europe.Vince Gaffney, Anniversary Chair in Landscape Archaeology, University of BradfordRobin Allaby, Associate Professor, Life Sciences, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/316922014-09-19T04:49:57Z2014-09-19T04:49:57ZInuit folklore kept alive story of missing Franklin expedition to north-west passage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59139/original/469rzxh4-1410856417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> HMS Terror thrown up by the ice. Engraving after a drawing by Captain George Back, from his 1836-37 Arctic expedition.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMSTerrorThrownUpByIce.jpg">Captain George Back/Wikimedia Commons , PD-UK</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On September 6, Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced that one of the fabled lost ships of Sir John Franklin’s expedition had been found off Hat Island, south-west of King William Island.</p>
<p>The ships HMS Erebus and Terror, which sailed from England in the summer of 1845, were aiming to chart the north-west passage. They disappeared into what is now the Canadian Arctic. Stranded in the ice north-west of King William Island in the summer of 1846, the ships were abandoned by the surviving officers and men in the spring of 1848. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14847091">sole meagre message</a> which was found reporting their fate states that they started south, hauling boats on sledges, aiming for the mouth of the Great Fish (now Back) River. It is assumed that they planned to ascend the river in the hope of reaching the nearest Hudson’s Bay Company’s post, Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake. Of the 129 men, not one survived.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59141/original/6f3t3tyv-1410856912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=973&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Franklin (1786 – 1847)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Franklin_2.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While Franklin’s ships vanished without a trace, they were kept alive in the Inuit folklore. Accurate reporting of historic events, such as encounters with various exploration vessels, is a well-established characteristic of the Inuit oral tradition and tales of the lost ships have survived until the present day.</p>
<p>The first Inuit account was recorded by Irish explorer Sir Francis Leopold McClintock in
<a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Voyage_of_the_Fox_in_the_Arctic_Seas.html?id=DjQNAAAAIAAJ">The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas</a> in 1859. McClintock, who joined a number of Royal Navy searches for the ships netween 1848 and 1859, was told that one of Franklin’s ships had been driven ashore by the ice in the marine area known as Ootgoolik, between Reilly Island and the Royal Geographical Society Islands. This information was supplied by Inuit near Cape Victoria, much further north.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Unravelling_the_Franklin_Mystery.html?id=RbnvSlOc6twC">Unravelling the Franklin Mystery</a>, historian David Woodman reports what the American Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall, heard about a ship in the same area from an Inuk whose name he rendered as Nuk-kee-che-uk in the 1860s. Nuk-kee-che-uk described the ship as beset in first-year ice, with four boats hanging in davits along its sides and one at the stern. A gangplank led from the deck down to the ice and the deck was housed over with canvas. The Inuit felt that a party of men had wintered on board the ship, and later tracks, not thought to be those of Inuits, were found on shore. </p>
<p>Nuk-kee-che-uk and others went aboard and found the corpse of a large man – fully-clothed and smelling badly. They ransacked the ship for items they could use. Returning after some time, they found that the ship had sunk, although the masts were still sticking out of the water. Subsequently large amounts of lumber and wreckage drifted ashore.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Unravelling_the_Franklin_Mystery.html?id=RbnvSlOc6twC">Woodman</a>, a similar story was recounted by Inuit to another explorer, Lt. Frederick Schwatka during his expedition of 1878-80. </p>
<p>As the ships were first abandoned by both crews in the summer of 1848, one of them could have only reached this location if some members had returned to the ships, and managed to sail it south. But remarkably consistent versions of this account are still current in the nearby Inuit communities, which have helped explain the ship’s location. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Encounters_on_the_Passage.html?id=zG50985kCSUC">Encounters on the Passage</a>, Dorothy Eber reports a story, handed down for decades, shared with her by Inuit elder Frank Analok, sometime between 1994 and 2008 in Cambridge Bay, Victoria Island. Analok believed that a ship had wintered off the south coast of Imnguyaaluk, the most northerly large island of the Royal Geographical Society group, with some of the crew camping on shore. The ship departed the following summer, and could be the one which has ended up off Hat Island.</p>
<h2>Making a find</h2>
<p>Parks Canada’s scientists have been attempting to find the ships each summer since 2008. Until now, their attempts have been unsuccessful. This summer, however, they have been helped by a number of other bodies including the Canadian Hydrographic Survey the Canadian Coast Guard, the Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, the Arctic Research Foundation, and the tourist operator Ocean Adventure. Their involvement enabled a more ambitious search to take place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59143/original/tnbkqtmh-1410857125.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sonar image of found ship.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.epa.eu/webgatearts-culture-and-entertainment-photos/archeology-photos/one-of-the-shipwrecks-of-sir-john-franklin-s-ill-fated-1845-48-british-arctic-expedition-photos-51561460">Parks Canada/EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The proposed search area was north-west of King William Island, in the general direction of where the ships were abandoned. But the heavy ice conditions forced the expedition to concentrate its search much further south, in the southeast corner of Queen Maud Gulf. Four vessels were at their disposal, including the Coast Guard’s icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier (Captain Bill Noon) and the Navy’s HMCS Kingston.</p>
<p>An additional purpose of the expedition was to map out these minimally-charted waters and on September 1, Scott Youngblood of the Canadian Hydrographic Survey took off by helicopter from the icebreaker to do so. He was heading for Hat Island, lying between O’Reilly Island and the Royal Geographical Society Islands, and was joined by two archaeologists: Douglas Stenton, director of Nunavut Culture and Heritage, and Richard Park of the University of Waterloo, Ontario. They, along with the helicopter pilot, strolled around on the tundra, keeping their eyes open for possible historical artifacts.</p>
<p>It was the helicopter pilot who made the first find: a fork-shaped metal object, about 43cm long, later identified as part of a ship’s davit. Then the archaeologists found a wooden hawse-plug; both items bore the Royal Navy’s “broad-arrow” symbol. Both artifacts were flown to Ottawa.</p>
<p>In view of these finds, the icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier focused its search on the waters off the island. The diving boat Investigator was lowered and started towing a side-scan sonar “towfish” in a grid pattern. A very clear image of a large wooden ship sitting upright on the sea-bed in a depth of only 11 metres emerged very soon. This depth helps to confirm the veracity of the Inuit account of the ship’s masts sticking out of the water. The vessel appeared to be almost intact, although the masts were missing. Then an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) was lowered and was soon relaying remarkably clear images of the ship, including details of deck planking and some cannon. </p>
<p>The discovery was the result of two fortunate coincidences: the heavy ice conditions further north which obliged the expedition to focus its attention further south, and the accident of the archeologists’ finding the two artefacts on the nearby island, which helped to focus the underwater search.</p>
<p>At 370 and 340 tons respectively, Erebus and Terror were almost identical vessels, and it is impossible to say which of them has been found at this point. But on September 11, Marc-André Bernier and Ryan Harris of Parks Canada’s underwater archaeology team flew back north, hoping to dive on the wreck during the limited window of opportunity before freeze-up. So, more artifacts will undoubtedly emerge soon and hopefully reveal the mystery of the ships’ disappearance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>There are no potential conflicts which would prevent publication of this article.
Willliam Barr</span></em></p>On September 6, Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced that one of the fabled lost ships of Sir John Franklin’s expedition had been found off Hat Island, south-west of King William Island…William Barr, Research Associate at Arctic institute of North America, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/264722014-05-09T11:20:26Z2014-05-09T11:20:26ZDoggerland’s lost world shows melting glaciers have drowned lands before, and may again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48097/original/2dmdvy86-1399584699.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Traces of submerged lands are visible today, if you know where to look.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Submerged_forest_at_Ynyslas,_Ceredigion.jpg">Richerman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When scientists from Imperial College released a simulation of a tsunami, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27224243">triggered by a vast undersea landslide</a> at Storrega off the coast of Norway around 6000 BC, it probably came as a surprise to many in north-west Europe that their reassuringly safe part of the world had been subject to such a cataclysmic event.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that this succession of destructive waves up to 14 metres high may have depopulated an area that is now in the middle of the North Sea, known as Doggerland. However, melting ice at the end of the last ice age around 18,000 years ago led to rising sea levels that inundated vast areas of continental shelves around the world. These landscapes, which had been home to populations of hunter gatherers for thousands of years were gradually overwhelmed by millions of tonnes of meltwater swelling the ocean. Doggerland, essentially an entire prehistoric European country, disappeared beneath the North Sea, its physical remains preserved beneath the marine silts but lost to memory.</p>
<p>Although effectively untouched and largely untouchable, the existence of these landscapes had been appreciated since the 19th century. Their potential significance was such that the archaeologist <a href="http://www.theposthole.org/read/article/85">Graham Clark</a>, father of British Mesolithic studies, wrote in 1936 that: “It would be possible to take comfort from the fact that such cultures might not have existed, were it not eminently probable that they not only existed, but flourished, under conditions more favourable than those inland.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48095/original/thp6vp9k-1399582695.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doggerland at (A) its hypothetical maximum, with glaciers remaining in Scottish highlands to the left, and (B) as the coastline recedes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent Gaffney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For more than 60 years after this the unreachable nature of Doggerland ensured that archaeologists knew very little about the settlement or even the people of these drowned lands. So little in fact, that it is probably correct to say that the only inhabited lands on Earth that remain to be significantly explored are those lost to the oceans. Indeed, <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/academic-staff/geoff-bailey/">Professor Geoff Bailey</a>, at the University of York, recently suggested that across the world they represent one of “the last frontiers of geographical and archaeological exploration”.</p>
<h2>Doggerland after the ice age</h2>
<p>In the past decade, however, a phenomenal amount of work has begun to shed light on this inundated landscape. The increasing appreciation of the length of human occupation of north-west Europe, currently thought to stretch back <a href="http://www.ahobproject.org/About.php">around 900,000 years</a> and understanding that for much of this time Britain was not an island, but a peninsular of Europe, has stimulated research. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48096/original/n6342bf7-1399583016.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The North Sea appears at start of the modern period (C), leaving only ‘Dogger Island’ (Dogger Bank) as recognisable coastlines appear (D).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent Gaffney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of dramatic new archaeological finds have given us clues to the extent to which these drowned landscapes are preserved beneath the sea. These include a <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2009/june/neanderthal-of-the-north-sea32888.html">Neanderthal skull fragment</a> from the Zeeland Ridges off the coast of the Netherlands and a collection of <a href="http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/alsf/seabed_prehistory/area-240">75 Neanderthal stone tools</a> and animal remains from off the coast of East Anglia, both dating to the Middle Palaeolithic – some 50,000 to 300,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Another development relates to work by researchers at the University of Birmingham that uses <a href="http://www.iaalocal.bham.ac.uk/North_Sea_Palaeolandscapes/index.htm">seismic reflection data</a> gathered by the offshore oil and gas industry at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Using this information, archaeologists have been able to map the surviving prehistoric landscapes beneath the North Sea silts. Hills, rivers, streams, estuaries, lakes and marshes can now be identified. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48093/original/cmh2222h-1399581953.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doggerland in the early Holocene (modern period). About 60% has been mapped.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent Gaffney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent projects supported by English Heritage, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (<a href="http://www.noaa.gov">NOAA</a>) and seismic survey company <a href="http://www.pgs.com">PGS</a> have mapped a previously unseen Mesolithic country of more than 45,000km<sup>2,</sup> about the size of the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Returning to the <a href="http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/hazards/landslides/sea.html">Storrega Tsunami</a>, no doubt this was a truly catastrophic event and certainly a major event that played out toward the end of Doggerland’s history. But the truth was that Doggerland had been slowly submerging for thousands of years. The heartland of north-west Europe would have been constantly shrinking, in a way that would have been obvious to its inhabitants. Sometimes slowly and on occasions terrifyingly quickly, the sea inevitably reclaimed ancestral hunting grounds, campsites and landmarks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48094/original/ygrpfn22-1399582502.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Approximate areas lost to rising sea levels since last ice age, highlighted in red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vincent Gaffney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consequently, the final force driving research interest in Doggerland must be the inexorable effects of climate change. The loss of Doggerland was the last time modern humans experienced climate change at the scale currently projected by climate scientists. It can be appreciated that the prehistoric sea-level rise that resulted in the loss of these vast areas of land was caused by natural rather than anthropogenic factors. And also, that the extensive loss of such land, while devastating to those that lived there, was never likely to amount to an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events">extinction-level event</a>. </p>
<p>The Mesolithic communities of the great plains of north-western Europe were flexible and mobile in the face of such change. Suffering there must have been, but they moved and adapted. Modern populations, however, do not necessarily have such a luxury in a world with far more people to share its finite resources and where the majority of the urban centres lie on coastlines. And because of that, the history of Doggerland, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-americans-lived-on-land-bridge-for-thousands-of-years-genetics-study-suggests-23747">other drowned lands</a>, should rise above the status of historical curiosity to that of a record of a critical period in human history that we would be well advised to study.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vince Gaffney receives funding from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (English Nature and English Heritage) and the NOAA.</span></em></p>When scientists from Imperial College released a simulation of a tsunami, triggered by a vast undersea landslide at Storrega off the coast of Norway around 6000 BC, it probably came as a surprise to many…Vince Gaffney, Professor, Chair in Landscape Archaeology and Geomatics, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/223332014-01-27T14:54:59Z2014-01-27T14:54:59ZAncient Eskimo artefacts saved from slipping into the sea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39917/original/nckps5q7-1390834205.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The thawing ground gives up its many secrets.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Qanirtuuq Collection</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Villagers living in the Somerset levels who have been inundated with floodwaters for weeks will be able to sympathise with the difficulties faced by those in the similarly low-lying <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wallpaper/ngm/photo-contest/2010/entries/wallpaper/week-10/ngpc-wp-wk-10-5/">Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta</a>, in Alaska. </p>
<p>Here, rising sea levels, decreased ice cover and melting permafrost have led to rapid erosion. Inhabitants of the delta – an area nearly three times the size of Scotland – are struggling to prevent their roads, airstrips, docks and houses from being lost to the next storm. Scores of villages have made plans to relocate entirely, and have emergency evacuation plans in place. </p>
<p>But it’s not only modern villages that are at risk. A less well appreciated consequence of the changing climate in coastal Alaska and elsewhere in the Arctic north is the steady loss of thousands of archaeological sites to the sea.</p>
<p>The scale of this destruction became clear when Warren Jones, a <a href="http://www.alaskanative.net/en/main-nav/education-and-programs/cultures-of-alaska/yupik-and-cupik/">Yup’ik</a> Eskimo leader from the village of Quinhagak sent photos of artefacts found by local people on the beach. These weren’t just stones and bones but carved wooden dolls and <a href="https://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/features/yupik/">masks</a>, in complete condition and even with traces of paint still intact. Artefacts like these don’t survive on the surface for very long. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39915/original/nds5bqnd-1390833619.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of many wooden dolls found preserved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Knecht</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2009 our team from the University of Aberdeen followed a trail of wooden artefacts down the beach to find the remains of a rapidly eroding prehistoric village. Finely carved harpoon shaft fragments and other artefacts protruded everywhere from the erosion face. Although much had already been lost there was much left to save – we recovered more than 8,000 artefacts in the first two seasons alone. By 2013 the erosion face had already moved 10m inland and all traces of those first excavations were gone.</p>
<p>The site of <a href="http://nunalleq.wordpress.com/about/">Nunalleq</a>, which means “old village” in the Yup’ik language, was occupied between about 1300-1650 AD, leaving behind layers of house floors about a metre deep. Until recently everything was locked in icy permafrost – the level of preservation is startling. About 80% of the artefacts are made of wood and other organic materials. Kayak parts, basketry, masks, dolls, bowls and many other items have been recovered, often complete. Pottery, ivory, bone and finely ground stone tools are also abundant.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39911/original/yw6z69q9-1390832480.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr Charlotta Hillerdal and a wooden mask.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Knecht</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The huge scale of the loss of this cultural heritage taking place is doubly tragic because the prehistory of the Yup’ik people is very poorly known. Despite the vast size of the Yup’ik homeland, which straddles the Bering Straight from Siberia to Alaska and Canada, and it rich culture, the daunting logistics and harsh conditions have discouraged archaeologists.</p>
<p>Our work would have been impossible but for our partnership with the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Qanirtuuq-Incorporated/470212869715212">Qanirtuuq Corporation</a>, the Yup’ik-owned organisation that manages the village on behalf of its people. Nearly a third of families living in this village of less than 600 live below the poverty line, yet Qanirtuuq, Inc. supported our work for three years while we gathered enough data to support a major grant application. Village leaders and elders decided that saving, and reconnecting, with their past was important to their future. </p>
<p>Beyond the spectacular artefacts, the soils on site are also rich with scientific data in the form of the organic detritus left by daily village life: wood chips, whittled sticks, strands of woven grass, feathers, cut bits of hide, dog fur and even scraps of human hair. </p>
<p>Prehistoric villagers at Nunalleq had a mixed diet of fish such as salmon, and also caribou and marine mammals. Since the site was occupied just before and during the onset of the Little Ice Age, a era of cooling climate that began around 1400, this data presents a unique opportunity to discover what species might be most sensitive to similarly rapid climate change today. And that in turn may give the Yup’ik a clue to what changes they might expect to their menu today as a consequence of global warming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Knecht through receives £1.1m funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Villagers living in the Somerset levels who have been inundated with floodwaters for weeks will be able to sympathise with the difficulties faced by those in the similarly low-lying Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta…Rick Knecht, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35752011-09-27T03:32:29Z2011-09-27T03:32:29ZSunken ship yields silver booty, but should we let sleeping wrecks lie?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3867/original/shipwreck_gairsoppa_AAP.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The SS Gairsoppa wreck is believed to hold $200 million worth of silver ingots.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>BBC News has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15061868">revealed</a> that a shipwreck containing 200 tonnes of silver has been found in the Atlantic Ocean, 500 kilometres off the west coast of Ireland.</p>
<p>It’s the largest haul of precious metal ever discovered at sea and is believed to be worth approximately $200 million.</p>
<p>The wreck is of the SS Gairsoppa, a UK cargo ship <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gairsoppa">sunk by a German U-boat in 1941</a>, and was found by US “marine archaeology” and exploration company <a href="http://www.shipwreck.net/">Odyssey Marine Exploration</a>. </p>
<p>But is this <em>really</em> a case of “marine” or “maritime archaeology”? Or is it just treasure hunting?</p>
<p>The 2001 <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=34114&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO Convention</a> on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage came into force in January 2009 having been ratified by the required 20 countries. As of September 2011, 40 nations have ratified the Convention.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3870/original/shipwreck_belitung_jacklee_.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ninth century Belitung wreck yielded many important artefacts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacklee</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Convention stresses the need for preservation, management, scientific investigation, and public education of our underwater cultural heritage.</p>
<p>So what do we mean by “underwater cultural heritage”? Well, the 2001 Convention <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO_Convention_on_the_Protection_of_the_Underwater_Cultural_Heritage#General_principles_of_the_2001_Convention">defines it as</a> “all traces of human existence having a historical or archaeological character that have been partially or totally underwater for at least 100 years”.</p>
<p>This includes prehistoric sites, shipwrecks, aircraft, artefacts, human remains, shipyards, jetties, wharves, docks, submerged buildings and towns, together with their archaeological and natural context. Underwater cultural heritage sites can be found in rivers, lakes, springs, bays and, of course, at sea.</p>
<p>Archaeology is the study of past human activities and cultures through the material left behind. Archaeologists are not interested in the artefacts themselves, but rather what those objects and the relationships between them can tell us about the people who made and used them. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3869/original/underwater_archaeology_Viv_Hamilton.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maritime archaeology is about more than selling silver.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Viv Hamilton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Legitimate, professional archaeologists do not engage in the buying, selling, or valuing of artefacts. Contrast this with the attitude of Andrew Craig, senior project manager at Odyssey Marine, who spoke about the find on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2011/3326352.htm">ABC Radio National Breakfast this morning</a>:</p>
<p>“It’s huge for us … we just can’t wait to get going on it and get it [the silver] up on to the deck of the boat and actually monetise it.”</p>
<p>Recovery of artefacts for commercial exploitation (treasure hunting) is considered <a href="http://www.acuaonline.org/deep-thoughts/a-matter-of-ethics-by-della-scott-ireton/">unethical and detrimental to maritime archaeology</a> and to humanity as a whole. </p>
<p>Treasure hunters sometimes try to give their endeavours a veneer of respectability by stating they are “using archaeological methods” or are “employing an archaeologist to oversee the project.”</p>
<p>Although their <a href="http://www.shipwreck.net/pr233.php">press releases</a> may use the correct archaeological “buzz words,” if artefacts are being recovered for sale, or will end up dispersed into private collections as payment for investing, it is not archaeology, no matter the tools or technology used, or the credentials of the “archaeologist” employed.</p>
<p>Sadly, SS Gairsoppa is not considered “underwater cultural heritage” as defined by the 2001 UNESCO Convention and so it is subject to salvage and treasure hunting by companies such as Odyssey Marine Exploration.</p>
<p>Their work is not maritime archaeology and unfortunately their activities are not restricted to sites that are less than 100 years old.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3868/original/shipwreck_nuestra_senora_national_maritime_museum_UK.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Explosion of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Maritime Museum, UK</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, Odyssey Marine Exploration was last week ordered by a US Federal <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PTIS1O1.htm">appeals court</a> to turn over to the Spanish government 17 tonnes of silver coins and other treasure recovered from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.oceantreasures.org/rubrique,mercedes,1082013.html">Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes</a> was sunk by British warships in the Atlantic in 1804 while sailing back from South America.</p>
<p>Spanish lawyers argued that US courts are obligated by <a href="http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm">international treaty</a> and maritime law to uphold Spain’s claim to the treasure. International treaties generally hold that warships <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=4kROa4B8wiIC&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=THE+PROTECTION+OF+THE+UNDERWATER+CULTURAL+HERITAGE:+AN+EMERGING+OBJECTIVE+OF+THE+CONTEMPORARY+LAW+OF+THE+SEA&source=bl&ots=hkVBRtFcDg&sig=9cjxdRakPrJ2V503rQvGAJI4GOQ&hl=en&ei=wSqBTprCLMShiAeIq9GSDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBA#v=snippet&q=battle&f=false">sunk in battle</a> are protected from treasure seekers.</p>
<p>So is this kind of treasure hunting a good investment for companies such as Odyssey Marine Exploration?</p>
<p>Like so many “get-rich-quick” schemes, treasure hunting is not a smart investment. In 2010 Odyssey Marine Exploration posted a net loss of $23.3 million, following a net loss of $18.6 million the previous year. As a result, investors are more than $40 million dollars out of pocket over the past two years alone.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3866/original/Indiana_Jones_in_Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1143&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As Indy might say: “That belongs in a museum!”</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More importantly, treasure hunting is destroying underwater cultural heritage all around the world. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, treasure hunting on a ninth century Arab shipwreck (the <a href="http://www.maritime-explorations.com/belitung.htm">Belitung wreck</a>) in Indonesian waters has been <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/arts/design/smithsonian-sunken-treasure-show-poses-ethics-questions.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3">enormously controversial</a> in past months. </p>
<p>The main concern is that by “mining” the wreck commercially over a period of months, much information about the crew and cargo was lost. By taking the time to do a more thorough excavation – a process which can take years – a greater snapshot of the vessel’s crew and cargo could have been created.</p>
<p>The controversy eventually lead the US <a href="http://www.si.edu/">Smithsonian Institution</a> to <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6043/694/suppl/DC1">cancel a proposed exhibition of material from the Belitung wreck</a>.</p>
<p>There’s certainly a romantic appeal to the idea of discovering millions of dollars of treasure on a long-lost shipwreck, but it’s worth keeping the facts in mind – the people who find such treasures are usually in it for the money alone and care little for the cultural significance of what they find.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/3575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Staniforth, PhD receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).</span></em></p>BBC News has revealed that a shipwreck containing 200 tonnes of silver has been found in the Atlantic Ocean, 500 kilometres off the west coast of Ireland. It’s the largest haul of precious metal ever discovered…Mark Staniforth, PhD; Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.