Do fundo do mar... Sea bottom

OSWEGO, N.Y. - A kilometre offshore, about eight metres below the surface of Lake Ontario, the hull of the David B. Mills lies wrecked in three large sections, broken apart by a violent October storm 88 years ago after running aground on Ford Shoals.

Strewn about the flat, rocky bottom are the 61.5-metre-long barge's propeller, anchors, winch, engine, boiler, rudder and various pieces of machinery. Around the debris, perch, whitefish, bass, pike, drum and alewives - joined by a few curious scuba divers - dart through the lucent water.

Typically regarded as a paradise for hikers, climbers and campers, upstate New York also offers some of the finest freshwater scuba diving in the United States - a cloistered natural attribute state officials and scuba enthusiasts are trying to promote through the creation of two "diving trails."

The Mills wreck is part of the Dive the Seaway Trail, which will offer exploration of five diving sites along the 730-kilometre Seaway Trail Scenic Byway, which runs along the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie, waterways filled with shipwrecks, rock formations and aquatic life.

The other trail is the Underwater Blueway Trail, a project in its pilot year in six communities. It is designed to provide diving access to shipwrecks and supply maritime heritage information to divers and non-divers.

While a handful of states have created underwater parks for diving, they are located on ocean water, said Doug McNeese, president of Scuba Schools International, one of the country's leading diving certification organizations. New York is the first state to link a series of freshwater sites into a "trail," and could become a model for other states, McNeese said.

"The Empire State is a maritime state," said Joe Zarzynski, a professional underwater archeologist and a member of the New York State Divers Association who helped open the state's first underwater preserve in Lake George in 1993. "New York's inland and coastal waters carried the development of our state ... little is done to inform the public about that fact."

One of the defining battles of the American Revolution was fought near Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, where a fledgling colonial navy was born and turned back the British to help secure the young country's survival, he said. In the 19th century, the Erie Canal was built across upstate New York, transforming the state's economy and opening the door to the nation's westward expansion.

The Seaway dive trail was initiated in 2003, two years after the Mills was designated a state Submerged Cultural Preserve and Dive Site. The Mills, a dive for any beginning open water diver, is just one of 1,500 shipwrecks in Lake Ontario, hundreds of them diveable. There are thousands more throughout the Great Lakes, whose cold fresh waters preserve the centuries-old ships and artifacts.

Other sites on the Dive the Seaway Trail include Eagle Wings, an ancient volcanic rock formation in the St. Lawrence River near Clayton; the Islander, a shore access shipwreck in Alexandria Bay; and the St. Peter, a 41-metre, three-masted schooner that sank in 35 metres of water in Lake Ontario east of Rochester in 1898 and is said to be haunted.

Buoy markers show where each site is located. Shore-based interpretative panels are located at the primary access point for each site, giving information about the site and the area's maritime history.

White said it became clear there were unrealized economic development opportunities after a 1999 study showed divers put more than US$108 million into New York's Great lakes region each year - even without a concentrated marketing campaign.

The Underwater Blueway Trail - an idea nearly 40 years in the making - involves Lake George, Freeport (downstate, on Long Island in Atlantic Ocean coastal waters), Plattsburgh (Lake Champlain); Dunkirk (Lake Erie), Oswego (Lake Ontario) and Geneva (Seneca Lake).

"It's a concept divers began talking about in late 1970s but the early attempts never seemed to go anywhere. It was strictly a matter of money," said Steve Resler, the assistant chief in the state Division of Coastal Resources' Resources Management Bureau and one of the project's chief advocates.

But the six municipalities found $220,000 in matching grant money through the state Environmental Protection Fund, and coaxed another $100,000 from the state's Parks and Historic Preservation to develop the trail. The municipalities are currently working on site recommendations.

Resler would like to see the Underwater Blueway Trail expand and eventually serve as an umbrella for regional dive trails around the state, such as the Seaway dive trail. The dive trails are being developed to complement above-water state and national scenic, recreation and heritage corridors.

Lake George, which has maintained and promoted its own sites for over a decade, is the model for both trails, White and Resler said.

There are three sites located there.

One features the bottom planks of seven bateaux, double-ended vessels used to carry troops, sunk by the British in 1758 near the Wiawaka Holiday House boat house, on the east side of the lake at about 12 metres. The site is marked by a surface buoy and the wrecks are joined by underwater lines.

About a kilometre northeast of Tea Island is the Land Tortoise, another ship intentionally sunk by the British in 1758 and rediscovered in 1990. The Land Tortoise has been designated by the Smithsonian Institution as "the oldest intact warship in North America." The wreck is for advanced divers at 32 metres and registration with the Department of Environmental Conservation is required to dive the site.

There's also a site for beginning divers featuring a 13.5-metre tour boat, The Forward, that sank in about 12 metres of water in the early 1900s. The site is set up as an underwater wreck-diving classroom. There's also an underwater navigation course and submerged signs to describe the ship and the area's geology, biology and thermoclines.

Ice and cold weather can curtail diving on some lakes and rivers during the winter, though Lake Ontario does not freeze over. You need a drysuit and special skills to dive in the winter and under the ice.

-

If You Go...

DIVE THE SEAWAY TRAIL: http://www.seawaytrail.com or 315-312-3042.

-The Eagle Wings site in Clayton gives divers a chance to see a variety of fish species, glacial rock formations and an ancient volcanic rock formation.

-The wreck of the David W. Mills in Oswego is a state Submerged Cultural Preserve and Dive site that shows a 19th century wooden steam barge and is accessible to beginning recreational divers.

-The Islander, a 38-metre wooden sidewheel steamer, that sank in 1909 in about 12 metres of water in Alexandria Bay. This is a shore access dive for novice level divers.

-The St. Peter, a 41-metre three-masted schooner sank in 1898 and is said to be haunted , off Pultneyville, east of Rochester, Lake Ontario, is a deep-water dive.

-A fifth site has yet to be determined.

UNDERWATER BLUEWAY TRAIL: This trail is in development. Partner communities are Lake George; Freeport, Long Island (Atlantic Ocean coastal waters); Plattsburgh (Lake Champlain); Dunkirk (Lake Erie); Oswego (Lake Ontario); and Geneva (Seneca Lake).

New York State Diving Association: http://www.scubany.org.

An archaeologist is taking a second look at a small cannon found by fishermen off the Virginia coast more than two decades ago in hopes of determining how it got to the bottom of the ocean — and who left it there.

Rod Mather, a professor of maritime history and underwater archaeology at the University of Rhode Island, has studied the 25-square-mile area surrounding the site where the cannon was found the past two summers.

Some historians believe the 4-feet-long, 300-pound cannon, which was loaded when it was found 24 years ago, is an English cannon from the 1580s, making it one of the oldest English artifacts ever found in the Americas.

Others argue that even if the cannon dates back to the 1580s, it could have been in use in the early 17th century when more ships were up and down the Virginia and Carolina coasts.

"If it's a shipwreck, and it's an English shipwreck, it would be the earliest English shipwreck in the New World," Mather said. "If you think about what we know about American history, the fuzzy part is the part about the early exploration of America."

Mather also questions if the cannon could have even more significant historical value _ possibly answering the question of what happened to the so-called Lost Colony.

The "disappearance" of 117 English colonists in the late 1580s on what is now Roanoke Island in North Carolina has baffled experts. Mather suggests the cannon possibly could have been left by the colonists _ either because their ship sank or by simply falling overboard _ as they fled in search of better living conditions.

Curators at East Carolina University in the mid-1980s _ where Mather was a graduate student who worked on the cannon _ dated it to 1587 and determined it was an English, land-based piece called a "falcon."

John White, whose 1590 expedition to Roanoke discovered that the colonists were no longer there, wrong in his journal: "From thence we went along by the water side, towards the point of the creek to see if we could find any of their boats or pinnaces, but we could perceive no sign of them, nor any of the last falcons and small ordinance (sic) which were left with them, at my departure from them."

"It's easy to run wild with that," Mather said. "But it's also true."

________________________________________________________________

Discovery Channel
By Jennifer Viegas
September 25, 2007

Fishermen around areas mentioned in the New Testament worked the night shift, suggests fishing gear found in a 7th century shipwreck off the coast of Dor, Israel, west of Galilee, where Jesus is said to have preached.

The standout item among the found gear is a fire basket, the first evidence for "fire fishing" in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. Early images and writings indicate fires were lit in such baskets, which were suspended in giant lantern devices from the end of fishing boats.

Light emitted from the fire both attracted and illuminated fish, as well as other sea creatures, like octopus, which men then speared or captured in nets.

"Striking at night is classified as fire hunting," explained archaeologists Ehud Galili and Baruch Rosen, who excavated the shipwreck.

Their findings have been accepted for publication in The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

The researchers, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, added that the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (approximately 428-348 B.C.) wrote about the practice, which involved striking fish forcefully from above or below the water.

The fact that Plato should write about this method "reflects the importance of fire fishing in the ancient Mediterranean," according to the researchers, and reveals that fire fishing was practiced throughout the New Testament era and for several centuries thereafter.

Aside from the iron fire basket, the shipwreck yielded rectangular lead fishing net sinkers used to weigh down cast nets. A five-pronged fishing spear made of iron was also in the wreck, as was a tubular, iron sounding lead.

Sounding leads are metal bobs used to measure water depth. Fishermen would fill the hollow portion with tallow, attach the bob to the end of a sounding line, and then fling them over the side of the boat. Both the length of the line and debris stuck to the tallow would indicate depth measurement.

The scientists think the sounding lead provides further evidence for fire fishing at night, since fishermen then charted their course using the stars, but would need the sounding lead "to locate a specific fishing ground."

"When returning home at night, or in conditions of low visibility, the sounding lead was an essential navigational aid," they explained.

A bronze steelyard weight in the shape of a woman was also found in the shipwreck. It was probably used to balance the heft of fish on a makeshift scale.

Multiple bronze coins, also found among the ship's remains, date the wreck to around 665 A.D., right after a Muslim conquest. It is therefore possible that the fishermen and their boat were causalities of the Byzantine-Muslim conflict at the time.

K.C. Hanson, editor and chief of Wipf and Stock Publishers, researched ancient fishing practices associated with the New Testament for a Biblical Theology Bulletin paper.

Hanson told Discovery News that fire fishing is not directly mentioned in the Bible, but the Bible does include information about the other artifacts and early fishing practices.

"Keep in mind that four of the original disciples were fishermen," he said. "And how would an individual such as Jesus connect and meet new people? By building networks based on fishing villages around the Sea of Galilee."

Hanson explained that early fishermen from the region, including the apostles, probably used most of their catch for garum, "which was a very important source of protein, particularly for the poor who couldn't afford whole, fresh fish."

He said garum consisted of fish pieces preserved in a salt brine or olive oil. It would have been more liquefied than today's canned tuna and other fish, and was used in soups, with grains and in other preparations.

Hanson added, "Writings from the time reveal that some people loved it, while others thought it tasted like dreadful glop."


____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com

An Illinois-based group named for a local historian thinks it has found the remains of a ship that once carried escaping slaves to freedom before it was destroyed by slave hunters on the shore of Lake Michigan in Ogden Dunes.

Roger Barski, an underwater photographer and ex-Hollywood lighting technician, presented the findings of the Briggs Project to a spellbound audience of two dozen history buffs at a meeting of the Portage Community Historical Society on Tuesday night.

Barski is a Project leader and a member of the underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago. He served as official photographer for the Kankakee Valley Historical Association's 2005 excavation at the Collier Lodge near Kouts.

He said his group has found virtually everything in the records that can be found about the ship.

"We've traveled everywhere, to other states, we've looked in the National Archives. Everyone is highly interested all the way to Washington, because it's tied to the Underground Railroad," he said.

Barski said the project began more than four years ago when Peg Schoon, who worked at Indiana University Northwest, showed researchers some writings of former Portage Township teacher and ex-high school principal William Briggs, who was also a noted historian.

"He grew up in the years after the Civil War and had access to the people who actually lived through it. We believe his word is truthful," Barski said.

For this reason, he said, the search for the boat was named the Briggs Project.

"We asked Mr. Barski here because William Briggs was a Portage citizen. What he wrote gave them the information that this ship was there," said Lois Mollick, PCHS president.

Submerged stone structures lying just below the waters off Yonaguni Jima are actually the ruins of a Japanese Atlantis—an ancient city sunk by an earthquake about 2,000 years ago.

That's the belief of Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan who has been diving at the site to measure and map its formations for more than 15 years.

Each time he returns to the dive boat, Kimura said, he is more convinced than ever that below him rest the remains of a 5,000-year-old city.

"The largest structure looks like a complicated, monolithic, stepped pyramid that rises from a depth of 25 meters [82 feet]," said Kimura, who presented his latest theories about the site at a scientific conference in June.

But like other stories of sunken cities, Kimura's claims have attracted controversy.

"I'm not convinced that any of the major features or structures are manmade steps or terraces, but that they're all natural," said Robert Schoch, a professor of science and mathematics at Boston University who has dived at the site.

"It's basic geology and classic stratigraphy for sandstones, which tend to break along planes and give you these very straight edges, particularly in an area with lots of faults and tectonic activity."

And neither the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs nor the government of Okinawa Prefecture recognize the remains off Yonaguni as an important cultural property, said agency spokesperson Emiko Ishida.

Neither of the government groups has carried out research or preservation work on the sites, she added, instead leaving any such efforts to professors and other interested individuals.

Ruins Point

Yonaguni Jima is an island that lies near the southern tip of Japan's Ryukyu archipelago, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Taiwan (see map).

A local diver first noticed the Yonaguni formations in 1986, after which a promontory on the island was unofficially renamed Iseki Hanto, or Ruins Point.

The district of Yonaguni officially owns the formations, and tourists and researchers can freely dive at the site.

Some experts believe that the structures could be all that's left of Mu, a fabled Pacific civilization rumored to have vanished beneath the waves.

On hearing about the find, Kimura said, his initial impression was that the formations could be natural. But he changed his mind after his first dive.

"I think it's very difficult to explain away their origin as being purely natural, because of the vast amount of evidence of man's influence on the structures," he said.

(Related: "Pyramid in Bosnia—Huge Hoax or Colossal Find?" [May 12, 2006].)

For example, Kimura said, he has identified quarry marks in the stone, rudimentary characters etched onto carved faces, and rocks sculpted into the likenesses of animals.

"The characters and animal monuments in the water, which I have been able to partially recover in my laboratory, suggest the culture comes from the Asian continent," he said.

"One example I have described as an underwater sphinx resembles a Chinese or ancient Okinawan king."

(See pictures of the "Japanese Atlantis" formations.)

Whoever created the city, most of it apparently sank in one of the huge seismic events that this part of the Pacific Rim is famous for, Kimura said.

The world's largest recorded tsunami struck Yonaguni Jima in April 1771 with an estimated height of more than 131 feet (40 meters), he noted, so such a fate might also have befallen the ancient civilization.

Kimura said he has identified ten structures off Yonaguni and a further five related structures off the main island of Okinawa. In total the ruins cover an area spanning 984 feet by 492 feet (300 meters by 150 meters).

The structures include the ruins of a castle, a triumphal arch, five temples, and at least one large stadium, all of which are connected by roads and water channels and are partly shielded by what could be huge retaining walls.

Kimura believes the ruins date back to at least 5,000 years, based on the dates of stalactites found inside underwater caves that he says sank with the city.

And structures similar to the ruins sitting on the nearby coast have yielded charcoal dated to 1,600 years ago—a possible indication of ancient human inhabitants, Kimura added.

But more direct evidence of human involvement with the site has been harder to come by.

"Pottery and wood do not last on the bottom of the ocean, but we are interested in further research on a relief at the site that is apparently painted and resembles a cow," Kimura said.

"We want to determine the makeup of the paint. I would also like to carry out subsurface research."

Natural Forces

Toru Ouchi, an associate professor of seismology at Kobe University, supports Kimura's hypothesis.

Ouchi said that he has never seen tectonic activity having such an effect on a landscape either above or below the water.

"I've dived there as well and touched the pyramid," he said. "What Professor Kimura says is not exaggerated at all. It's easy to tell that those relics were not caused by earthquakes."

Boston University's Schoch, meanwhile, is just as certain that the Yonaguni formations are natural.

He suggests that holes in the rock, which Kimura believes were used to support posts, were merely created by underwater eddies scouring at depressions.

Lines of smaller holes were formed by marine creatures exploiting a seam in the rock, he said.

"The first time I dived there, I knew it was not artificial," Schoch said. "It's not as regular as many people claim, and the right angles and symmetry don't add up in many places."

He emphasizes that he is not accusing anyone of deliberately falsifying evidence.

But many of the photos tend to give a perfect view of the site, making the lines look as regular as possible, he said.

Schoch also says he has seen what Kimura believes to be renderings of animals and human faces at the site.

"Professor Kimura says he has seen some kind of writing or images, but they are just scratches on a rock that are natural," he said.

"He interprets them as being manmade, but I don't know where he's coming from."

But Kimura is undeterred by critics, adding that the new governor of Okinawa Prefecture and officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization have recently expressed interest in verifying the site.

"The best way to get a definitive answer about their origins is to keep going back and collecting more evidence," he continued.

"If I'd not had a chance to see these structures for myself, I might be skeptical as well."

September 14, 2007


The Mary Rose trust is organising a 25th anniversary reunion for divers who took part in raising the historic warship.

The Mary Rose is the only 16th century warship on display anywhere in the world. Built between 1509 and 1511, she was one of the first ships able to fire a broadside, and was a firm favourite of King Henry VIII.

After a long and successful career, she sank accidentally during an engagement with the French fleet in 1545. Her rediscovery and raising were seminal events in the history of nautical archaeology.

The reunion is to be held on 10th, 11th and 12th October in Portsmouth.

If you dived on the Mary Rose or know anyone who did dive on the Mary Rose then contact:

Divers' Reunion
c/o The Mary Rose Trust
1/10 College road
HM Naval Base
Portsmouth
PO1 3LX
mail@maryrose.org
http://www.maryrose.org/


____
http://www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com/

Encrusted with tiny shells and smelling strongly of the sea, a 2,400-year-old Greek jar lies in a saltwater bath in Durres Museum, on Albania's Adriatic coast.

Part of a sunken shipment of up to 60 ceramic vessels, the 67-centimeter (26-inch) storage jar, or amphora, was the top find from what organizers say is the first archaeological survey of this small Balkan nation's seabed, conducted by U.S. and Albanian experts.

"Touch it, touch it. It's luck," said mission leader George Robb of the Key West, Florida-based RPM Nautical Foundation. "You're touching something that was made before Plato was born."

Launched in July, the month-long survey was the first step in compiling an underwater cultural heritage map that could eventually plot the position of sunken fleets from ancient and mediaeval times believed to lie along Albania's 360-kilometer (220-mile) coastline.

Auron Tare, the project's local coordinator, said Albanian authorities were hoping to sign a deal with RPM, a non-profit foundation, late this year for a five-year survey.

"That would give a boost to a still nonexistent field of archaeological research in the country," Tare said. "It would be a great promotion for local tourism, especially diving tourism, and could possibly lead to the creation of an underwater archaeology museum."

Archaeologist Adrian Anastasi said the survey would help protect the country's marine cultural heritage from looters — an increasing problem since the collapse of the country's hardline Communist regime in 1990.

"(The survey) will help create the necessary legal and structural infrastructure to protect shipwrecks from looting," said Anastasi, Albania's only archaeologist specialized in underwater research.

Anastasi said the project — using state-of-the-art scanning technology — would likely have cost the Albanian government €3.5-4 million (US$4.7-5.4 million) if they did it by themselves. "RPM has all the necessary modern technology, and is doing it with its own funding," he said.

Linking the western Balkans and the East with western Europe, Albanian waters were busy with shipping during ancient and mediaeval times.

"In those times ships usually stayed near the shore, to maintain visual contact with land, and all our coastline was a very intensive route for commercial and other traffic," Anastasi said.

The light-brown clay amphora, probably used to store wine or oil, was found on the last day of the survey off the ancient town of Butrinti near Saranda, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Tirana and opposite the Greek island of Corfu. It was initially dated to the early 5th century B.C. but later research suggests a 4th century B.C. date — during the lifetime of the ancient Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.).

The find will stay immersed in water at the museum in Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of Tirana. Museum workers will gradually reduce the water's salinity over the next year, to remove salt from the amphora ahead of its conservation.

"Based on what we can see on the surface, there is a high probability that (the amphora) is a sign of a shipwreck located deep there from that period," said Jeffrey G. Royal, archaeological director of RPM, whose Mediterranean operations are based in Valletta, Malta.

If so, it would be the first 4th century B.C. wreck to be located in Albanian waters, say survey organizers, who are keeping the find's precise location and depth secret for fear of looting. Only a handful of wrecks from that period have been excavated in the Mediterranean.

Anastasi said 50-60 amphorae were located on the seabed. Once the finds are assessed, an effort will be made to uncover the wreck, which would give information on the ship's destination and ancient naval architecture of the period.

Albanian officials also plan to ask permission from neighboring Montenegro for the RPM's Hercules research vessel to continue its exploration north of Albania.

The ship also located 14 other shipwrecks from the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the survey that ended Aug. 13.

Shipwreck Preservation: Permanent Mooring Buoys
October 13, 2007

Event Description: MAST has been busy since its inception working towards creating a way to lessen the impact that humans have on submerged archaeological sites. MAST has been able to buoy 10 Ohio shipwrecks. Ken Marshall, MAST chair, will highlight the shipwrecks, their history, why they were chosen, and the work it takes to make sure that these resources are protected.

Date/Time: Saturday, October 13, 2007; 11 a.m.

Location of Event: Inland Seas Maritime Museum, 480 Main St., Vermillion, Ohio 44089

Sponsoring Organization: Maritime Archaeological Survey Team

Fees: None

Pre-registration: No

Participant Ages: Adults

Other Pertinent Information: While pre-registration is not required a RSVP would be appreciated. This is not as a children’s program but children are welcome.

Contact Information:
Carrie E. Sowden, GLHS/MAST

Phone: 440-967-3467 (extension 6)

Email: shipwreck@inlandseas.org

Web: www.ohiomast.org


Lake Erie Nautical Archaeology, Summer 2007
October 23, 2007

Event Description: Carrie Sowden, Archaeological Director of the Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center, will present the history and results of the Great Lakes Historical Society’s summer field season. The Sarah E. Sheldon, a wooden steamer that sank in 1905, was surveyed by PLESRC and MAST. GLHS and MAST also spent the summer investigating 9 possible shipwreck sites that ODNR had discovered in 2004.

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 23, 2007; 7 p.m.

Location of Event: Inland Seas Maritime Museum, 480 Main St., Vermillion, Ohio 44089

Sponsoring Organization: Great Lakes Historical Society

Fees: None

Pre-registration: No

Participant Ages: Adults

Other Pertinent Information: While pre-registration is not required a RSVP would be appreciated. This is not as a children’s program but children are welcome.

Contact Information:
Carrie E. Sowden, GLHS/MAST

Phone: 440-967-3467 (extension 6)

Email: shipwreck@inlandseas.org

Web: www.inlandseas.org

Desde novembro de 2006, tramita no Congresso Nacional o Projeto de Lei 7566 de autoria da Deputada maranhense Nice Lobão. A proposição representa uma mudança no tratamento que o patrimônio cultural subaquático vinha tendo no Brasil, como "coisa ou bem submerso". Ao definir esse patrimônio arqueológico como todos os vestígios da existência humana que se encontram submersos, ou na interface, iguala-o ao patrimônio arqueológico que está em superfície, passando ao Ministério da Cultura a tarefa de gestão.

Dessa maneira, a Deputada propõe a extinção da atual Lei Federal n° 10.166, de dezembro de 2000, que permite a comercialização desses vestígios arqueológicos submersos, estabelecendo valor de mercado a eles e recompensas aos exploradores. "A legislação nacional sobre o assunto não contribui em nada para a salvaguarda do nosso patrimônio subaquático. A atual lei chega ao extremo de regulamentar o pagamento de recompensa pelos bens culturais submersos que sejam removidos, o que só pode incentivar a pirataria moderna e a retirada irresponsável dos bens do meio em que se encontram", opinou Nice Lobão, em seu discurso no Plenário no último dia 28. O deputado Waldir Maranhão, relator do Projeto na Comissão de Educação e Cultura, também acha que "a Lei nº 10.166 não oferece instrumentos adequados de proteção ao patrimônio subaquático".

As opiniões dos deputados são resultado de uma luta do Centro de Estudos de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática da Universidade Estadual de Campinas - CEANS/UNICAMP- contra a atual legislação que, além de incentivar a destruição de nosso Patrimônio Cultural Subaquático, também coloca o Brasil contrário à CONVENÇÃO DA UNESCO PARA A PROTEÇÃO DO PATRIMÔNIO CULTURAL SUBAQUÁTICO, documento que serviu de base para a deputada elaborar o projeto de lei 7566. A Convenção é um instrumento jurídico internacional elaborado para assegurar a proteção de tal patrimônio e foi adotada pela 31ª Conferência Geral da Organização das Nações Unidas para a Educação, a Ciência e a Cultura (UNESCO), em novembro de 2001.

Nice Lobão também destacou a importância das atividades do CEANS em todo o processo. "Para realizar esse trabalho de peso, recebi apoio e orientação de arqueólogos brasileiros, preocupados com a situação do patrimônio cultural subaquático nacional.

Pude contar, especialmente, com o Centro de Estudos de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática, da UNICAMP". A deputada afirma que o Projeto de Lei 7566 também foi baseado na "MOÇÃO DO I SIMPÓSIO INTERNACIONAL DE ARQUEOLOGIA SUBAQUATICA", elaborada na ocasião do "I SIMPÓSIO INTERNACIONAL DE ARQUEOLOGIA SUBAQUÁTICA". O evento foi organizado pelo CEANS e realizado durante o XIII Congresso da Sociedade de Arqueologia Brasileira - SAB, em setembro de 2005. O relator do projeto, Waldir Maranhão, também reconheceu a assessoria do CEANS e destacou suas atividades na tarefa de protestar "com veemência em defesa do patrimônio cultural subaquático nacional". O parlamentar também salienta a importância da publicação pelo CEANS do "Livro Amarelo". "O Livro Amarelo: manifesto pró-patrimônio cultural subaquático brasileiro é documento informativo que chama a atenção para a necessidade de se rever a atual legislação".

O projeto de Lei 7566 já foi aprovado por unanimidade no dia 8 de agosto na Comissão de Educação e Cultura e encontra-se, atualmente, na Comissão de Constituição, Justiça e Cidadania, tendo como relator o deputado gaúcho Matteo Chiarelli.

An archaeologist using radar technology said Monday he has found the outline of what he believes is a 1,000-year-old Viking longship under a pub car park in north-west England.

Professor Stephen Harding used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to trace the outline of a vessel matching the scale and shape of a longship, perhaps from the time Vikings settled in Meols, on the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside.

Meols has one of Britain's best preserved Viking settlements, buried deep beneath the village and nearby coastal defences.

Harding, from the University of Nottingham in east central England, is now seeking funds to pay for an archaeological dig to search for the vessel which lies beneath two-to-three metres of waterlogged clay.

"The next stage is the big one. Using the GPR technique only cost 450 pounds but we have to think carefully about what to do next," Harding said.

"Although we still don't know what sort of vessel it is, it's very old for sure and its Nordic clinker design, position and location suggests it may be a transport vessel from the Viking settlement period if not long afterwards."

The ship was first uncovered in 1938 when the Railway Inn was demolished and rebuilt further away from the road, with the site of the old pub turned into a car park.

Workers unearthed part of an old clinker-built vessel but were told by the foreman to cover it over again to keep construction on course.

Harding said he believes it might be possible to access the vessel from the pub cellar, where the public could eventually view it.

Archaeologists have discovered traces of Switzerland’s oldest known building, but it will never draw tourists: it lies underwater in the middle of a lake.

Since it was made of wood scientists used dendrochronology – the technique of dating by tree rings – to give a precise figure of 3863 BC.

The find in Lake Biel, northwest of the Swiss capital, Bern, was described as “sensational” by Albert Hafner, who is in charge of underwater archaeology in the region.

Divers working for the cantonal archaeological service came upon the site in the winter of 2006 when they were investigating prehistoric villages built on piles in the once densely populated area of Sutz-Lattrigen.

Pile villages have been found in and near many Swiss lakes. Wooden stakes were driven into the ground to support a platform on which houses were then built.

Changes in the level of the lakes mean that many remains are now underwater, but when they were first built they stood on the edge.

Fish traps
The newly found construction in Lake Biel is different. It was a large rectangular structure standing alone 200 meters from shore, which meant it was clearly not a dwelling house.

Three circles of stakes discovered not far away were the clue to its function. The circles were fish traps, and the building would have used by fishermen to store equipment and perhaps to smoke fish, Hafner explained.

“This is the first time we have found a prehistoric fishing place in one of our Swiss lakes,” archaeologist Cynthia Dunning told swissinfo.

“But one find always brings another one. I hope we’ll find more.”

The closest known parallel comes from the Baltic area.

The site has been meticulously recorded, and all possible information has been gleaned from it. The piles are now being left where they were, and may disappear gradually.

Oldest village
Erosion is a serious problem in the area of Sutz-Lattrigen, where archaeologists have been active for 20 years.

The oldest villages in the area go back to the fourth millennium BC, and the most recent to 1750-1660 BC.

Over 30,000 square meters of the lake bed have been examined, and thousands of objects brought to the surface.

To preserve this important part of Swiss heritage, the archaeological service has carried out rescue digs and implemented anti-erosion measures.

Experts are using special blankets that cover the sites to prevent them from disappearing and preserve items where they are for the future.

TV programme
Pile dwellers are close to the Swiss heart. The country is particularly rich in these villages on almost all the major lakes.

When they were first discovered in the 19th century, they were seen as part of a common heritage and used to build a sense of national identity.

One of Switzerland’s hit TV programmes of this summer was a reality show in which ten people spent four weeks living as pile dwellers in a specially reconstructed village.

The show used findings from the archaeological research carried out over the past 20 years, which has changed some of the traditional views of the Neolithic way of life.

The site at Sutz-Lattrigen aims to get a further boost in the coming years. Together with similar sites in the area it hopes to be included in the Unesco World Heritage List.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found a Roman wreck dating from the first century A.D. off Cape Greco towards the Protaras area, it emerged yesterday.

During late July and early August, a small international team of archaeologists and students undertook a brief season of underwater diving survey along the island’s east coast.

The project followed four seasons in and around Episkopi Bay on the south coast, and was financially and logistically supported by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University, the University of Pennsylvania, and RPM Nautical Foundation, with the additional support of a research vessel and equipment from the Thetis Foundation of Limassol.

Three weeks were spent at sheltered inlets and dangerous promontories in the area of Cape Greco and north towards Protaras area, in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities in an effort to determine the area’s long-term maritime history in advance of eventually locating well-preserved shipwrecks, an announcement said.

“A total of six stone and metal anchors recorded through the area, testify to a long history from antiquity through at least the mediaeval period of merchants stopping at the numerous natural and manmade ports that dot these shores,” it added.

It said that among the more important findings was an extensive wreck site dating to the early imperial Roman era, around the 1st century AD, which carried a mixed cargo of several amphora types, predominantly jars from the southeast Aegean area.

“Though the wreck is in shallow to moderate waters and thus disturbed by the environment, the site can still be recognised as one of some importance for understanding the region’s maritime trade during the period of Cyprus’ early incorporation into the Roman Empire,” according to the statement.

Next year, the team plans returning to several large ceramic concentrations for more extensive documentation, as well as more intensive mapping of the early Roman wreck.

“The search for cultural material, including better preserved shipwrecks, will also be extended to the deeper sandy seabed, well suited to remote sensing techniques, especially sonar but potentially also magnetometry,” the statement said.

It said the area’s prominent maritime history was evident not only by the ceramic deposits recorded at ports, anchorages and promontories, but also through reports from local divers and specific events in the historical record.

According to Diodoros, it was somewhere in the area, where in 306BC the Macedonian Demetrios the Poliorketes triumphed over Ptolemy of Egypt in one of the largest naval engagements of antiquity.

Although Ptolemy eventually victoriously returned, thus controlling the island through the rest of the Hellenistic period, nearly a hundred warships were reported as sunk during the combat.

“Hence, the course of the survey of archaeologists working in deeper waters offshore, far from the coastline appears to be hopeful,” the archaeologists concluded.

NICOSIA - Cyprus is to launch sea surveys in an area where dozens of vessels led by warring successors to Alexander the Great are believed to have sunk in battle for control over the island in 306 BC.

Encouraged by the discovery of one wreck from a later Roman era, the survey slated for the summer of 2008 will extend into deep waters from the south-east tip of the island, known as Cape Greco, the island's Antiquities Department said.

"Cyprus is a crossroads and is very rich in ancient shipwrecks," said Pavlos Flourentzos, director of Cyprus's Department of Antiquities.

Historical accounts suggest that the Cape Greco region -- a rocky outcrop between the now popular tourist resorts of Agia Napa and Protaras, saw one of the biggest naval battles of the ancient world.

According to the ancient Greek historian, Diodorus of Sicily, in 306 BC Demetrios the Poliorketes (Besieger) triumphed over Ptolemy I of Egypt in a naval engagement off Cyprus, with dozens of vessels sunk as the result of combat.

"It is well known that there was a naval engagement in the region in 306 BC, so there is a potential of finding wrecks, or parts of wrecks, in deeper waters," Flourentzos told Reuters on Thursday.

Ptolemy I, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, lost control of Cyprus for a period of 10 years after his defeat at the hands of Demetrios Poliorketes. Demetrios was son of Antigonus, a Macedonian nobleman who later ruled Asia Minor.

The Cypriot Antiquities Department announced on Thursday that an ancient Roman shipwreck, dated the 1st century AD, had been found in the same area.

The extensive wreck, dating from the early Imperial Roman era, carried a mixed cargo of several amphora, predominantly jars from the southeast Aegean area.

Further mapping of the wreck would take place in 2008. Searches for better preserved shipwrecks would extend to the deeper sandy seabed which was suited to remote sensing techniques, the antiquities department said.

Authorities said the projects were financially and logistically supported by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University, the University of Pennsylvania and the RPM Nautical Foundation.

An ambitious five year project mapping Turkey's underwater history has been launched by the Dokuz Eylül University's (DEÜ) Marine Sciences and Technologies Institute (DBTE), the first such activity to be carried out by a Turkish university.

The lost underwater history of the Aegean and Mediterranean project, which began in May has already located over 20 shipwrecks, eight underwater ruins, and six sunken locations dating back to the Ottoman era. Our goal is to find the sunken heritage of our country, said Harun Özdaş, project manager and Underwater Archaeology assistant professor at DEÜ. Some 12 scientists have been assigned to the project including archaeologists, biologists and geophysicists.

So far we dived to 15 sunken areas between Anamur and İzmir. We came across many sunken places in the gulf of Gökova, Özdas said.

The Piri Reis Research Ship and the Bodrum School Ship are being used for the studies, and diving permission granted by the Culture Ministry allows access to restricted zones. Upon completion of the project, the data will be published in geography books mapping the sunken history of Turkey.

Studies are being carried out at a depth of 20-40 meters underwater. Findings we discovered in Alaçatı belong to 5 B.C. The ones in Gökova belong to the Hellenistic and Roman period. We focus on the commercial route of old times. We are planning to carry out a project in the Black Sea after the Aegean and Mediterranean, Özdaş said.

Underwater remains provide important information about the life in the past, as well as about geological changes. The remains reveal the changes in the water level of the Aegean and Mediterranean. We can also find information about construction technologies employed. So far we have found plates, tiles and different cargo ships, he said.

A Roman boat in near-immaculate condition has been dredged up from the bay of Cartagena. Archaeologists say the find dates back to the first century B.C.

The team from Cartagena’s natoinal archaeological museum and underwater investigation centre (MNAM-CNIAS) reveals that this exciting discovery comes just after two boats and a number of anchors thought to be more than a hundred years old were found on the seabed.

The team worked in conjunction with the Aurora SP Trust, a US-led non-profit-making foundation based in Malta, which provided equipment and funds.

More underwater investigations are expected to be carried out in a bid to bring Cartagena’s maritime history, which dates back more some three thousand years, to the surface.

They believe the boat could have been used to transport wine, oil and various perishables, and had space for up to 1,500 amphorae – Roman bottles – in the hold. This suggests it was a ship of considerable dimensions.

It was discovered at a depth of about a hundred metres off the coast of Cartagena and is said to have similar characteristics to a vessel found off the coast of La Vila Joiosa a year ago.

Archaeologists reveal that wine was drunk in Rome in huge quantities over 2,000 years ago. The annual consumption for the city was in region of 1.5 million hectolitres.

The United Nations 2001 convention on protecting underwater cultural heritage was right to oppose the plundering of sunken archaeological treasures for profit. Unfortunately, only 15 countries have ratified the agreement, and the plundering has begun.

In what may become the biggest underwater find ever, Odyssey Marine Explorations, a commercial operation from Tampa, Florida, has reportedly hauled 17 tons of gold and silver from a ship widely believed to be the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes that was sunk by a British warship off the coast of Portugal in October 1804.

The company claims ownership of its find. And, of course, Spain is hiring lawyers and preparing its legal claim to the trove, claiming a sovereign nation's right over its cultural heritage.

It's clearly going to be a protracted legal battle, but we think it would only be right to let another set of plaintiffs stake their claim to the treasure, too: Spain's former colonies in Latin America, where the loot was looted in the first place.

The hoard of gold and silver coins that sunk with the Mercedes was probably minted in Peru - from where the galleon set sail for Cadiz, via Montevideo, in March of 1804.

Though a potential Peruvian claim to the treasure would rest on tenuous legal grounds - Peru wasn't even an independent country in 1804, but part of the Spanish empire - it certainly could make a sound case based on moral considerations: The Inca didn't freely give gold and silver to the Spanish invaders. Spain took it by force.

The moment seems ripe to reclaim long lost treasure. After stonewalling Italian officials for years, the Getty, the Met and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts have all agreed to return looted antiquities to Italy. Peru is negotiating with Yale to recover thousands of pieces taken by Hiram Bingham III from Machu Picchu in 1912 for a "loan" to the Peabody museum.

Two years ago, Italy returned to Ethiopia the 1,700-year-old Axum obelisk, taken to Rome in 1937 on the orders of Benito Mussolini. And it has promised to return a second-century Roman statue of Venus to Libya, where Italian troops stole it in 1913.

Admittedly, these cases of theft are much more recent, not on the appalling scale of the Spanish crown's conquest and plunder of Latin American treasure hundreds of years ago.

But if Greece can insist on the ownership of the Elgin Marbles, which Lord Elgin took from the Parthenon to ship to the British Museum in 1801 - when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire - Peru surely has a shot at the gold of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.

The fate of the recovered treasure is likely to be defined now in a federal court in Tampa, where Odyssey quietly stashed the hoard before announcing its find. When the lawyers from Odyssey face off with those representing Spain, perhaps Peru's lawyers should come, too.

Traverse City, MI - Underwater archaeologists in Lake Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay are speculating a boulder they found in a June ship wreck to be engraved with a prehistoric carvings.

Mark Holley, a scientist with the Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve Council, believes that the granite rock, which was found hidden at a depth of about 12 metres, has markings that resemble a mastodon.

A mastodon is an elephant-like creature that once inhabited parts of North America. It also carried what appeared to be a spear in its side.

Accepting the fact that they need the experts to come in and verify if the carvings are an ancient petroglyph, Holley said he has shown pictures of the boulder to them. Michigan has only a couple of confirmed petroglyphs.

Since the petroglyphs experts are not able to dive in sea water, the scientists say they are facing trouble showing the exact carvings to the experts.

Though the exact location of the boulder is not unveiled to prevent it from theft, scientists say it lies within the 50-kilometre-long (31 miles) bay on the flat, sandy lake floor.

Holley also told the Associated Press that the boulder is a part of a row of stones of varying sizes that might have marked the shoreline 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. The boulder with the markings is about one metre high and about 1 1/2 metres long.