Albert Einstein

The underwater archeology reveals fossilized structures under ideal conditions of safeguarding. The ship which sank (except if it were plundered by clandestine plungers and treasure hunters - to see low) delivers its intact cargo to us. No other documentary source thus makes it possible to reconstitute the trade flows of the Antiquité, or the more recent periods. Each stray is one moment of history failed the bottom of the seas. The goal of subaqueous archeology is to inventory, and to identify, in Fouille, the sites in prehistoric or historical matter. Generally, the excavations are preceded by a survey which makes it possible to measure the importance of the site, and to identify the principal data of them.

History

Hunting for the treasures

The first period of the history of underwater archeology, born at the 19th century with the appearance of the Diving-suits and the first Underwater machines , was directed towards the taking away of the " trésors" found in the stray in order to nourish public collections or private .

Scientific archeology

Following the example terrestrial archeology, underwater archeology gradually took a more scientific turn, with the techniques of the systematic squaring of the ground, the statements and underwater photographs, as well as the interest for naval construction, etc

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, which popularized deep-sea diving and, therefore, the stray access to the S in the Mediterranean, reports its excavations on the galère of Mahdia in 1948 (film Carnet of diving corealized with Marcel Ichac) and to the Large-Congloué as from 1952.

Association Adramar (http://www.adramar.fr) is today one of the inevitable actors of maritime archaeological research in France. She works since many years in collaboration with the Department of Subaqueous and Underwater Archaeological Research (DRASSM, Ministère of the Culture) to research and the development of the maritime cultural goods, in France like abroad.

Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray, contibuent with the enrichment of knowledge by the many excavations which they have carried out for more than 30 years, in particular the sites of Dramont with Saint-Raphaël, and the very rare medieval wrecks of Cannes, of Agay.

The SSRepublic

The SSRepublic is an American boat with vapor, with two paddle wheels, which sank in 1865 following a storm, in the Atlantic Ocean, with broad of the Georgia. On the 92 passengers, 25 died drowned. Initially called SSTennessee , the ship was useful during the American Civil War, then was returned to civil services. In 1865, it connects New York to La Nouvelle-Orléans with a cargo of gold coins estimated at: 400000 $ of the time.

Thanks to the guided missile Zeus embarked on the ship of research Odyssey , SSRepublic was identified to 160 km in the south-east of Savannah. Gold coins of 10 and 20 $ were re-installed on the surface; only one of these parts in good state can be worth until: 450000 $ today. More: 50000 parts of 50 hundreds out of money were found, of which some were struck with the Orleans News (such a part is worth: 100000 $ today).

Techniques of subaqueous archeology

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Archeology
French federation of studies and underwater sports
Jean-Yves Emperor
Robert Stenut

General documentation

Legal texts

With the international level:

Convention of UNESCO on the protection of the subaqueous inheritance

In France:

Legislation on the maritime cultural goods of 1989

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