Geophysical Methods for Wreck-Site Monitoring: the Rapid Archaeological Site Surveying and Evaluation (RASSE) programme

Abstract

Rapid advances in geophysical techniques over the past decade have provided the maritime archaeological community with significant opportunities for re-defining the procedures for wreck-site mapping, evaluation and monitoring. The techniques which offer most potential for high-resolution survey are acoustic-based and include sidescan sonar, swath-bathymetry sonar and multibeam sonar. These techniques were tested on an artificial test-site in Plymouth Sound and over the wreck of the Stirling Castle. Results demonstrate that the techniques can provide the maritime archaeologist with the opportunity to rapidly and cost-effectively map and monitor small, centimetric changes on sites, with the potential for long-term monitoring and management.

Archaeological Applications of Low‐Cost Integrated Sidescan Sonar/Single‐Beam Echosounder Systems in Irish Inland Waterways

“…20 m. Either the water column takes up most of the data, or if compensated for by increasing the range, resolution decreases and small anomalies become harder to see. Further, since acoustic shadows can play a major role in object identification (Bates et al ., ), it can be important to maximize these by dropping the towfish to a minimum height above seabed. This is simply not possible with the current set up of hull‐mounted transceivers.…”

“…The present range of such techniques includes sidescan sonar (SSS), sub‐bottom profiler (SBP), single‐beam echosounder (SBES), magnetometer and swath bathymetry (Quinn, ; Plets, ). These are all well‐established techniques which are tried and tested in both commercial (Firth, ; Firth et al ., ) and research projects (Quinn et al ., , ; Quinn, ; Bates et al ., ). They have been variously used to locate and image shipwrecks (Papatheodorou et al ., ; Quinn, ; Hamel, ; Plets et al ., ), submerged structures (Sonnenburg and Boyce, ; Cassen et al ., ) and map exposed or buried landscapes (Gaffney et al ., ; Lübke et al ., ; Bates et al ., ; Westley et al ., ).…”

The Wreck of the WarshipNorthumberlandon theGoodwinSands, England, 1703: an interim report

“…This was known as the Rapid Archaeological Site Surveying and Evaluation (RASSE) project, administered by English Heritage and funded through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) (Bates et al . , , ). The RASSE project trialled a dual‐head Reson 8125 Ultra High Reson Multibeam Echosounder to survey the site.…”

“…In 2005 the Northumberland was one of several sites on the Goodwin Sands chosen for investigation as part of a three-year project led by the University of St Andrews. This was known as the Rapid Archaeological Site Surveying and Evaluation (RASSE) project, administered by English Heritage and funded through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) (Bates et al 2005(Bates et al , 2007(Bates et al , 2011. The RASSE project trialled a dual-head Reson 8125 Ultra High Reson Multibeam Echosounder to survey the site.…”

Characterisation of Terrain Variations of an Underwater Ancient Town in Qiandao Lake

“…As a noncontact remote sensing approach, the MBES provides a safe approach to surveying targets and operators. Therefore, the MBES is considered as a promising technique to survey underwater objects [19,20]. Plets et al [21] surveyed the north of Joint Irish with the MBES to search the remains of a shipwreck and successfully extracted its geometric information.…”