A systematic approach to the investigation of scattered wreck sites

Lead Use on Roman Ships and its Environmental Effects

“…Post‐depositional processes at the wreck‐sites acted as an ‘extracting filter’, discriminating between light objects such as hull timbers, rigging, and buoyant cargo which disintegrated or drifted ashore to be salvaged, and heavy metallic artefacts which were buried in the local sand. The buried artefacts were protected from destruction and salvage, survived and accumulated as assemblages of intact metal artefacts (Frost, 1962; Muckelroy, 1975; Ward et al , 1999a; Ward et al , 1999b).…”

The identification of shipwreck sites: a Bayesian approach

“…The potential for erroneous identification is greatly increased in the study of scattered wrecks [21,23], where the vessel is no longer intact and its characteristics must be inferred from the analysis of the remaining pieces of the vessel. Likewise, the potential for correcting erroneous identifications is much more limited, since one can rarely hope to discover an associated name on the vessel or other evidence that would conclusively undermine an existing identification.…”

A Hellenistic/Early Roman Shipwreck Assemblage off Ashkelon, Israel

“…Vessels caught in a storm drifted ashore and wrecked in the surf‐zone, and heavy objects were buried in the sand. Such buried artefacts were protected from destruction and salvage, and survived as intact assemblages (Frost, 1962; Muckelroy, 1975; Ward et al. , 1999; Galili et al.…”

“…Vessels caught in a storm drifted ashore and wrecked in the surf-zone, and heavy objects were buried in the sand. Such buried artefacts were protected from destruction and salvage, and survived as intact assemblages (Frost, 1962;Muckelroy, 1975;Ward et al, 1999;Galili et al, 2002a). In the last 50 years changing coastal sedimentation patterns, caused by natural processes combined with human activities (sand quarrying and the construction of marine structures), have resulted in shortage of sand and exposure of archaeological sites on the shallow sea-bottom.…”