Dive & Dig

Professor Lucy Blue speaks with archaeologist Dr Harald Lübke from the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology about a recent discovery in the Baltic Sea off Germany that may be Europe’s oldest human-made underwater megastructure. Christened the ‘Blinkerwall’, it’s a continuous low wall made of hundreds of granite stones that stretches for around a kilometre. Could it have been constructed by hunter-gathers more than 10,000 years ago and if so, what was its purpose? Hear how by bringing together archaeologists, geophysicists and experts in landscape reconstruction the team is piecing together a now submerged landscape that was very different than the one today.

The project team includes:
Maine Geophysics:  Peter Feldens, IOW & Jens Schneider von Deimling, CAU Kiel
Marine Geology: Jacob Geersen, IOW
Archaeology: Jens Auer, LaKD MV,  Marcel Bradtmöller, Univ. Rostock, & Harald Lübke, LEIZA

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Mohamed Mustapha Abd El-Maguid, from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Egypt.  An expert in ancient ship construction, he has installed a reconstruction of a late Roman-early Byzantine ship in the recently re-opened Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, Egypt.  The pearl of the Mediterranean, Alexandria was the centre of trade and commerce. To illustrate the city’s importance in trade during ancient times, Mohamed was asked to use amphora from the museum store dating from the Roman period and place them in a reconstructed section of the cargo hold of a ship. Hear how together with the craftsmen at the shipyard he has beautifully reconstructed a boat based on the Saint Gervais 3 wreck of a similar period found in southern France.  Allowing students to see the ship take shape using the shell-first method of construction with mortise-and-tenon joints, gave them a chance to truly appreciate the craftsmanship and creativity of a Roman ship builder. 

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Crystal el Safadi who has recently recovered from a series of unfortunate events sailing the Kyrenia- Liberty.  It is the third replica reconstruction of the 4th-century BC Greek merchant ship discovered in 1965 off the coast of northern Cyprus.  Built in 2002, it has been on several voyages, however this one in September last year proved to be challenging.  As part of the Eastern Mediterranean Experimental Sailing project, Crystal and her team set sail from Limassol only to encounter unexpected weather conditions.  Find out what happened and what they have learned from the experience.  

To learn more about the Kyrenia-Liberty and the on-going repair work, please visit the Facebook page dedicated to the ship. 

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Chris Dobbs who has been working at the Mary Rose Trust for over 40 years, initially as an Archaeological Supervisor excavating King Henry VIII’s flagship off Portsmouth and in the last few decades as Head of Interpretation at the Mary Rose Museum. Believing that you need to tell the stories behind the objects and the people who used them, he uses smells and sounds to help bring the Tudor artefacts alive and bring maritime archaeology to the larger public. He was instrumental in developing the new immersive 4D cinema experience that is enabling visitors to join divers and discover ship via archive footage.  

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Professor Dave Parham from Bournemouth University who has been diving on the remains of 1944 Valentine Tank assemblage in Poole Bay. Made buoyant by the addition of a canvas skirt they proved essential in getting armoured support onto the beach during the historic D-Day landings.  Scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act means they are protected by law. On a recent inspection the turret on one tank was found to have been pulled off.  There were no obvious clues as to the culprit, so the police were called in to help solve this crime.  Who did it? How can such sites be policed? Can you help solve this crime?  Learn more about the importance of these tanks that sank in bad weather during Exercise Smash in the run-up to this historic manoeuvre.    

Professor Lucy Blue speaks to Dr Lisa Briggs and Dr Peter Campbell from the University of Cranfield who have been searching the deep waters of the Straits of Sicily using micro-AUVs - autonomous underwater vehicles.  Deployment of these small, agile vehicles has enabled the team to map large areas of this busy maritime highway of the Mediterranean. 

The team aim to locate historic remains and ancient shipwrecks, and have consulted local fisherman for potential targets as they trawl the seabed and often snag remains in their nets, even including statues. 

These mini autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) can be deployed in multiples, thus covering large areas of the seabed.  They are relatively cheap to purchase and easier to use and programme than larger AUV’s.  Fitted with cameras might they become a principal tool not only for maritime archaeology, but also other disciplines such as marine biology. Learn how these vehicles have democratised survey previously limited to researchers with much larger budgets.  

Join Professor Lucy Blue as she discovers why the loch waters in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland are peppered with hundreds of artificial islets, known as crannogs. Here she speaks to a director of The Islands of Stones project team, Professor Fraser Sturt from the University of Southampton who has been investigating these small islands built of stones and layers of timbers.  Originally thought to be settlements dating to the Late Bronze-Age and medieval periods, their work reveals they are a succession of accumulated settlements dating back 6000 years to Neolithic Britain. Were they constructed as defences, burial grounds or for ceremonial purposes? Among the well-preserved pottery found in the surrounding waters are pots from the Orkney Islands demonstrating the connectivity between the island chains. While scientific analysis of pot residues reveal cereals and dairy products cooked up to produce a kind of porridge!

Professor Lucy Blue is captivated by the Nabataeans – the ancient Arab traders best known for their rock-cut capital of Petra. Here she speaks to Michele Stefanile from the University of Naples Federico II about two recently located submerged Nebataean temples in the Bay of Naples. Prodigious traders, the Nebataeans traded in luxury goods from the Arabian Peninsula such as frankincense and shipped grain and bitumen from Egypt via Alexandria to Rome through the ancient harbour of Puteoli (now known as Pozzuoli).  Hear how these discoveries reveal the role of the Nabataeans at this Republican period port and why these wealthy merchants built temples with Italian marble clad altars inscribed with Latin dedications to their Gods. 

Dr Lucy Blue speaks with a number of team members working under the direction of Professor of Simon James at the site of Dreamer’s Bay on the southern tip of Akrotiri Peninsula in Cyprus.  At this ancient port complex discoveries range from an ancient mole – or massive stone breakwater, a wreck with a cargo of tiles, and stone anchors among other remains possibly dating to the Roman or Byzantine periods.  The site poses many questions, including why the breakwater is where it is and what was the relative sea level would have been.  By comparing it to other ancient harbours in Cyprus can these and other questions be answered?  

Professor Lucy Blue chats with maritime archaeologist, Dr Daniel Pascoe about discovering the 17th century 70-gun warship, the HMS Edgar.  Dan explains how a combination of boundless determination, in-depth archival research and geophysical investigations helped identify mounds that appeared to be the remains of the ship blown apart by sloppy storage of gun powder.  By probing these mounds and digging test pits Dan and his team uncover artefacts and human remains that identified them as remains from the Edgar and the crew who went down with it.