Mapping Submerged Landscapes Using Multibeam Bathymetric Data: a case study from the north coast of Ireland

Abstract

This paper outlines work currently being undertaken to reconstruct submerged archaeological landscapes off the north coast of Ireland. This research uses the recently-completed Joint Irish Bathymetric Survey (JIBS), which has provided full-coverage high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data for the sea-bed off the north coast. This data has been examined for evidence of past sea-level change and been used to produce palaeo-geographic reconstructions of the past landscape, which in turn have facilitated the identification of ten areas of high archaeological potential. The results presented here will form the basis of a future programme of archaeological survey and prospection.

Submerged Mesolithic Landscape Investigation, Eleven Ballyboes, Republic of Ireland

“…The work described in this paper highlights the potential of local-scale diver-led investigations, particularly in inshore areas/shallow water to complement the landscape-scale, geophysical/geotechnical data driven research which is currently ongoing on the Irish shelf (e.g. Plets et al, 2014;Westley et al, 2011a;. This may be especially important if, as discussed above, preservation in many parts of the Irish shelf is limited to small pockets which are amenable to diver-led work, rather than, for instance, vast expanses of preserved and deeply buried palaeo-landscape, such as characterize the North Sea (e.g.…”

“…These have focused mainly on palaeo-landscape mapping and reconstruction (e.g. Westley et al, 2011a;2011b;, an approach heavily driven by availability of data generated by extensive seabed mapping of the Irish continental shelf (e.g. Dorschel et al, 2011).…”

Late Quaternary coastal landscape morphology and evolution of the Maltese Islands (Mediterranean Sea) reconstructed from high-resolution seafloor data

“…Although most research effort was, and still is, directed towards archaeological investigation at relatively shallow depths via scuba-diving (Benjamin 2010), progress in offshore technology and a refreshing transdisciplinary scientific attitude is pushing our quest for questions and answers offshore and deeper. One inescapable prerequisite to contribute valuable underwater geo-archaeological and prehistoric data is the precise mapping of such drowned landscapes (Bicket 2011;Westley et al 2011). This is not always a simple task because it requires the evaluation of the degree of marine modification undergone by the former landscape in response to a variety of processes associated with marine transgression.…”

“…This is not always a simple task because it requires the evaluation of the degree of marine modification undergone by the former landscape in response to a variety of processes associated with marine transgression. Nevertheless, the current boom in multibeam bathymetric mapping is providing the very basic tool required for rapid reconstruction of extensive areas of the seafloor with the accuracy required for geo-archaeological and prehistoric investigations (Westley et al 2011;Micallef et al 2013).…”

Remote sensing for underwater archaeology: case stud-ies from Greece and Eastern Mediterranean

“…Furthermore, Plets et al (2011) analysed bathymetric and backscatter data derived from multibeam surveys off the north coast of Ireland for shipwreck detection, identification and shipwreck site characterization. In the context of the coastal palaeogeographical reconstruction, Westley et al (2011) also used multibeam data for mapping the submerged landscapes at the northern coast of Ireland.…”