Thursday, February 17, 2011

Underwater archeology

Information about the oldest examples of human descent in the deep sea, from ancient times. In almost all they relate to this type of projects by the campaigns of war or for recovering marine resources - such as sponges, pearls. Notes on this subject were, among others. Pliny the Elder in the works, Thucydides, Wegecjusza, as well as Homer's Iliad.
More information about attempted landing in the deep sea produce contemporary sources from the sixteenth and later centuries. This period was a time of great maritime and colonial expansion, many European countries. The most common means of transport as much military and civilian vessels were then. Many of them were wrecked by acts of war or of destructive weather. Shares extracting precious cargo took place in the Mediterranean, Baltic, and also in the "New World". Usually, when they used a primitive diving bell, and the items were extracted blindly. The most important goal was to recover - to save as much valuable cargo and armaments.
It's hard to talk about the first dives, or zejściach man in the deep sea in order to raise the archaeological material, as a marine area that each has its pioneers. However, you can safely assume that the first intentional underwater archaeological excavations in Greece have been organized in 1885 by Christos Tsoundasa, conservator in Athens. Had a diagnosis of the nature of the underwater and related to the Gulf Salamińskiej together with the place of the battle of Salamis. Apart from isolated finds, they have not yielded the most interesting discoveries, and had no greater importance to the wider underwater archeology. You can even say that was quickly forgotten.