Underwater archaeology

--- CONTENT ---
Underwater archaeology deals with all archaeological sources that have been preserved under water cover. It is a great step forward in archaeological research because it opens up sources of find at the bottom of seas, lakes and rivers, wells, caves and cenotes, but also in moors, where the term “wet soil archaeology” is usually used here.

In Germany, underwater excavations are subject to permits and may only be carried out by specially trained experts. The Commission for Underwater Archaeology at the Association of State Archaeologists in the Federal Republic of Germany conducts appropriate training.

Underwater archaeology is closely linked to underwater photography.

Significance
The importance of underwater archaeology varies regionally and depends on geographical and geophysical circumstances. In Scandinavia, for example, since the end of the last ice age, the worm cold age, which ended about 12,000 years ago and thus ushered in the Holocene, a so-called postglacial land elevation takes place due to the elimination of the enormous weight of the ice sheet, which continues to this day. As a result, the former shallow water areas, usually the most potentially interesting areas for underwater archaeologists, are now on land, so that underwater archaeology, with a few exceptions, hardly plays a role in advancing research into the history of the Vikings, for example.

For other near-shore areas, the importance of this division lies in contrasting post-glacial developments that have brought seawater rise (up to 120 m) to formerly dry habitats, especially from the Mesolithic period, under today's waterlines, such as Doggerland between the British Isles and Denmark or the area off the coast of Northern Ireland, which was recently studied in more detail in a complex project (Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey Project (JIBS)).

The particular importance of this not yet very old branch of archaeology results from the particularly good conservation of organic materials such as wood and textiles, but also food waste and other organic waste under air exclusion in fresh water. The significance and information power of the recovered objects is therefore very high and naturally also affects all relics of a maritime nature, so that maritime historical insights result. As a special branch, ship archaeology has developed.

In warm and salt-rich seas, such as the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, wood and other organic materials are heavily attacked by the shipworm, from older wrecks rarely more than 5% of the ship's hull is preserved. The special information content, however, lies in the obtained materials of which the ship load consisted, such as copper bars, ceramics or Roman