The Courier November 1987 [antikvár]

Underwater archaeology, a new scientific discipline with a wide popular following Plunging into The origins of underwater archaeology can be traced back to the time, about a century ago, when a handful of intrepid archaeologists began to use helmet diving methods or employ sponge divers to look at submerged ruins and wrecks. These methods were used on perhaps a dozen sites in all until the end of the Second World War, when the aqualung, a self-contained underwater breathing device invented by the French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and the engineer Emile Gagnan, made it possible for scientists and explorers to work cheaply and easily in waters up to 50 metres deep. Hundreds of books and magazine articles have now been written about underwater archaeology. In particular, in the last thirty years a number of underwater excavations have received massive publicity (see page 12). These finds, surveys and excavations have been vitally important, and have furthered the art and discipline of underwater surveying, stratigraphy, and the interpretation of ancient seafaring. Such major wreck excavations which have produced well-preserved artefacts form the high points of underwater archaeology. However, to present another review of the high points of the last thirty years might suggest that underwater archaeology has become intellectually and spiritually dead, living off the grandeur of its achievements. The truth is that underwater archaeology has been spreading like wildfire. There are now many thousands of underwater sites