Synopses & Reviews
'Maritime archaeology - the scientific investigation of the relics of past ships and seafaring - has come into being as a distinctive sub-discipline of archaeology only since the wartime invention of the aqualung. It is now time to take stock of what has been, and can be, achieved and to indicate ways forward for the future. In this book Keith Muckleroy sets out to define maritime archaeology, highlighting, on the one hand, factors that are unique to working under water and, on the other, problems of interpretation and method that are shared with its parent discipline archaeology. If responsible research is to replace the treasure-hunting and sensationalism of recent decades, it is vital that its aims and objectives should be well defined, and that they should be fully integrated into the planning of underwater investigations. This is made even more urgent by the inevitable expense and difficulty of fieldwork. Although this is not intended to be a comprehensive practical manual, theoretical discussion is firmly rooted throughout in the author\'s own experience as a diving archaeologist. Many of the numerous photographs with which the book is illustrated come from sites investigated by himself and his colleagues, giving the account an immediacy which will appeal both to divers and non-divers, to archaeologists of all types, and to anyone interested in our maritime past.'
Synopsis
'This book will appeal both to divers and non-divers, to archaeologists of all types, and to anyone interested in our maritime past.'
Synopsis
Archaeology has made enormous advances recently, both in volume of discoveries and in its character as an intellectual discipline; new techniques have helped to further the range and rigour of enquiry, and encouraged interdisciplinary communication. The aim of this series is to make available to a wider audience the results of these developments. The coverage will be world-wide and will extend from the earliest period to medieval and industrial archaeology.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. The Scope of Maritime Archaeology: 1. Introducing maritime archaeology; 2. General introduction and definitions; 3. The development of maritime archaeology; 4. Summary and prospectus; 5. The constraints of work under water; 6. The organisation of work under water; 7. Some problems in work under water; 8. The advantages of excavation under water; 9. The contribution of current work under water; 10. Mediterranean shipbuilding in classical times; 11. Mediterranean trade in pre-classical and classical times; 12. Early Mediterranean harbours; 13. Ships of the early medieval period in north-west Europe; 14. Post-medieval ship construction; 15. The Spanish Armada; 16. The expansion of Europe, sixteenth to nineteenth centuries; 17. The annexation of the new world; 18. Navigational instruments; 19. The unrealised potential of maritime archaeology; 20. Prehistoric craft; 21. Medieval shipbuilding in north-west Europe; 22. Shipbuilding in Asia; 23. Inland craft; 24. Pre-1500 trade outside the Mediterranean; 25. Anchors and anchorages; 26. Deep-water archaeology; Part II. Towards a Theory of Maritime Archaeology: 27. The archaeology of shipwrecks; 28. Introduction; 29. Wreck-sites and their environments; 30. Extracting filters; 31. Scrambling devices A; 32. Scrambling devices B; 33. The analysis of sea-bed distributions A; 34. The analysis of sea-bed distributions B; 35. The archaeology of ships; 36. Introduction; 37. The ship as a machine; 38. The ship as an element in a military or economic system; 39. The ship as a closed community; 40. The archaeology of maritime cultures; 41. Introduction; 42. Nautical technology; 43. Naval warfare and maritime trade; 44. Shipboard societies; 45. Incidental contributions to archaeology in general; 46. Conclusions; Theory and Practice; Bibliography; Index.