Reearchers investigating the archaeology of shipwrecks need to understand the processes by which a wreck site is formed so that they can allow for the distortions in the archaeological material caused by the filtering and scrambling of material remains that occurs during and after the wrecking process.

When a ship is wrecked, it suffers many changes of state until the remains eventually reach equilibrium with their environment. Initially, the wrecking process changes it from the human organised form of a working vessel to an unstable state of structure and artefacts underwater. Natural forces act upon it during the wrecking process and continue to act until equilibrium is reached. Heavy items sink rapidly, lighter items may drift before sinking, while buoyant items may float away completely. This causes a filtering and scrambling of the material remains. The sudden arrival of a structure on the seabed will change the currents, often resulting in new scour and deposition patterns in the seabed. Once underwater, chemical processes and the action of biological organisms will contribute to the disintegration. At any point in these processes, humans may have intervened, for example by salvaging items of value. A shipwreck is the remains of a ship after it has sunk or been beached as a result of a crisis at sea. ...

Prior to being wrecked, the ship would have operated as an organised machine, and its crew, equipment, passengers and cargo need to be considered as a system. The material remains should provide clues to the functions of sea-worthiness, navigation and propulsion as well as to ship board life.

Finally the ship as a means of transport can be considered as an element in a geographically dispersed social, political and economic system. Warships impose political will by force; cargo vessels exist in a system of commerce; while passenger carrying vessels give clues to social classes and structure. Social status may also exist within the ship, for example, between segregated officers and seamen.

The wreck of the Severance, a modern wreck with rigging intact

Archaeological theories of shipwrecks

Muckelroy's model

A systematic model for the characterisation and interpretation of the archaeology of shipwrecks was first proposed by Keith Muckelroy in 1976 ^[1] Muckelroy's system model describes the evolution of the material remains of the ship from the wrecking process, subsequent salvage operations and the disintegration and rearrangements of the remains from environmental factors. Although Muckelroy considered both natural processes and human activity in his model, subsequent research has mainly expanded the environmental factors and there has been little published on the human processes. 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

Considering human intervention

A paper by Martin Gibb in 2006, ^[2] expands Muckelroy's model to consider human behaviour at the time of the disaster and the long term relationship between people and shipwrecks. This model utilises studies of humans involved in disasters to characterise the human activity into phases around the time of the wrecking. This model considers: 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A shipwreck is the remains of a ship after it has sunk or been beached as a result of a crisis at sea. ...

• Pre-impact threat phase, in which humans considering the risk may take avoiding action which results in there being no wreck, or may take unsuccessful action to mitigate the perceived threat, for example the wreck location may be the result of attempting to avoid some perceived greater threat. Stowage of cargo may also indicate consideration of threat.
• Pre-impact warning phase, in which humans may take drastic action to avoid catastrophe, for example, running a vessel ashore, jettisoning cargo or running out anchors.
• Impact, in which the decision is made to abandon ship or remain aboard, and, for example, attempt to refloat.
• Post impact, where survivors regroup and, for example, salvage their own goods or make repairs.
• Rescue and Post-disaster where the vessel is abandoned and in which third parties may be involved in salvage or in removing remains that present a hazard to navigation.

See also

• Maritime archaeology
• Underwater archaeology
• Rusticle
• Wreck diving
• Nautical Archaeology Society

Maritime archaeology (also known as marine archaeology) is a discipline that studies human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of vessels, shore side facilities, cargoes, human remains and submerged landscapes. ... Underwater archaeology is the study of past human life, behaviours and cultures using the physical remains found in salt or fresh water or buried beneath water-logged sediment. ... A Rusticle is a little similar to an icicle or stalactite in appearance, but occurs under water when wrought iron rusts. ... Wreck diving is a type of recreational diving where shipwrecks are explored. ... The Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) is a charity registered in England and is a company limited by guarantee. ...

Famous shipwrecks

• Uluburun Late Bronze Age shipwreck, 14th century BC
• Cape Gelidonya Late Bronze Age shipwreck, c. 1200 BC
• Antikythera c 80-50 BC, includes the astronomical computer, the Antikythera mechanism
• Mary Rose, 1545
• Vasa, 1628
• VOC ship Batavia, 1629
• VOC ship Amsterdam, 1749
• HMS Pandora [1]1791
• Medusa 1816
• RMS Titanic, 1912
• Bismarck, 1941
• USS Arizona, 1941

The Uluburun Shipwreck is a well-documented ancient shipwreck of the Late Bronze Age period, discovered off the southern Turkish coastline on the Mediterranean Sea near the city of KaÅŸ in the early 1980s, and recovered using techniques of underwater excavation in 11 consecutive campaigns of 3-4 months duration... // Overview Events 1344 BCE – 1322 BCE -- Beginning of Hittite empire Rise of the Urnfield culture Significant persons Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt Tutankhamun, Pharaoh of Egypt Suppiliulima, king of the Hittites Moses Inventions, discoveries, introductions Template:DecadesAndYearsBCE Category: ‪14th century BCE‬ ... Cape Gelidonya near Finike, Turkey was the site of the wreck of a Phoenician merchant ship from about 1200 BC, which sat at about 27 m depth on irregular rocky bottom. ... Centuries: 14th century BC - 13th century BC - 12th century BC Decades: 1250s BC 1240s BC 1230s BC 1220s BC 1210s BC - 1200s BC - 1190s BC 1180s BC 1170s BC 1160s BC 1150s BC Events and Trends 1204 BC - Theseus, legendary King of Athens is deposed after a reign of 30... The Antikythera wreck is a ship wreck that was discovered by sponge divers off the coast of the Greek island, Antikythera. ... The Antikythera mechanism (main fragment) The Antikythera mechanism (Greek: Ο μηχανισμός των Αντικυθήρων transliterated as O mÄ“chanismós tōn AntikythÄ“rōn) is an ancient mechanical analog computer (as opposed to digital computer) designed to calculate astronomical positions. ... Mary Rose depicted on the Anthony Roll, a survey of Henry VIIIs navy, completed in 1546 HMS Mary Rose was an English carrack and one of the first to be able to fire a full broadside of cannons. ... Events February 27 - Battle of Ancrum Moor - Scots victory over superior English forces December 13 - Official opening of the Council of Trent (closed 1563) Battle of Kawagoe - between two branches of Uesugi families and the late Hojo clan in Japan. ... Vasa from the side Vasa (also Regalskeppet Wasa, or Wasa, of 64 guns) is a famous warship built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden of the House of Vasa, between the years 1626 and 1628. ... Events March 1 - writs were issued in February 1628 by Charles I of England that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date. ... The replica of the Batavia The Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), built in 1628 in Amsterdam, which was struck by mutiny and shipwreck during her maiden voyage, upon which a drama followed. ... Events March 4 - Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter. ... Replica of the Amsterdam at the Netherlands Maritime Museum The VOC ship Amsterdam ran aground near Hastings, England in January 1749, on its maiden voyage to Batavia. ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... The Raft of the Medusa is the name applied to an infamous catastrophic shipwreck of the French ship Medusa (original French name: La Méduse) in 1816 in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. ... RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner that became infamous for its collision with an iceberg and dramatic sinking in 1912. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The German battleship Bismarck is one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The USS Arizona (BB-39) was a Pennsylvania-class battleship of the United States Navy. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ...

Famous wrecksites

• Ancient & refugee ships of the Baltic Sea
• German High Seas fleet of Gutter Sound in Scapa Flow
• Truk Lagoon
• Pearl Harbor
• Takashima island off the Japanese coast of Kyushu in the East China Sea

In the Baltic Sea during WW II several ships that were loaded with evacuees have been torpedoed and sunk. ... Map of the Baltic Sea. ... Gutter Sound is an inlet of the vast anchorage of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. ... Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. ... Truk Lagoon is a sheltered body of water almost fifty miles long by thirty miles wide surrounded by a protective reef. ... Satellite image of Pearl Harbor. ... Takashima is the name of several places in Japan: In Nagasaki Prefecture: Takashima Town in Nishisonogi Takashima Town in Kitamatsūra District. ... Kyushu region, Japan Kyushu (九州 kyÅ«shÅ«) is the third largest island of Japan and most southerly and westerly of the four main islands. ... The East China Sea is a marginal sea and part of the Pacific Ocean. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Muckleroy, K., 1976. The integration of historical and archaeological data concerning an historic wreck site: The 'Kennemerland'. World Archaeology 7.3 pp 280-289.
2. ^ Gibb, M., Cultural Site Formation Processes in Maritime Archaeology: Disaster Response, Salvage and Muckelroy 30 years on. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology vol 35.1 pp 4-19

External links

• The Sextant, Online community of Underwater Archaeology and Maritime History
• Institute of Nautical Archaeology
• Institute of Maritime History
• Nordic Underwater Archaeology
• Flinders University Maritime Archaeology Program
• A Code of Ethics for Maritime Archaeologists by Australian AIMA
• [Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976:] Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976:]"Shipwrecks" Includes alphabetized list of known wreck sites from Classical Antiquity.