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TINA

Denizcilik Arkeolojisi Dergisi

7. Verifying the Anthropogenic Nature of Sites. the palaeosol and the site features embedded in it,
Many natural features may look like anthropogenic are removed by a dredging system (figs. 11, 12). In
ones. After the identification of a suspected feature case of only a thin sand cover (a few centimeters),
on the sea bottom, its anthropogenic nature has to the sand is removed manually by fanning. A grid
be verified. This should be done by ruling out the is set over the structure to be excavated and the ar-
possibility that the feature originated from a ship- chaeological deposit is excavated in 10 cm spits and
wreck (cargo or ballast stones) or that it is a product 0.5x0.5m squares. The excavation team includes two
of natural processes (erosional or depositional). divers in the suction area holding the plastic hose and
Identifying clear patterns of intended selection of excavating with a spatula, and a diver monitoring the
building materials (e.g. flat slabs, elongated stones), exhaust end of the dredging system, where a collect-
the possible origin of the stones (local or un-local), ing box is set. The excavated material is collected
and the patterns of their arrangement, should also be in tagged plastic bags, marked by square and dive
considered. The presence of indicators that are asso- number, and transported to the shore laboratory using
ciated with human presence, (e.g. worked flint, stone/ a lifting box attached to an air bag. Small or fragile
bone/wooden artifacts, charcoal, faunal and human artefacts are collected in plastic jars. Core samples
remains and pottery in certain sites and periods) may of in situ archaeological deposits are taken for pollen
verify the anthropogenic nature of the suspected fea- and sediment analysis and these are kept damp in the
ture. plastic core tube after removal from the site.
C. PrOCurement OF ArCHAeOLOGICAL DAtA Excavation in Shallow Water: In Israel, these
Allowing the Sea to Remove Overlying Sediments: shallow sites are usually covered by 1–1.5 m of
Removing large quantities of overlaying sand from sand and their exposure is accidental, unpredictable,
the site before excavation is extremely expensive. In thus work in these sites cannot be pre-planned in
Israel, underwater prehistoric archaeologists often detail. In the inter-tidal zone and the surf zones on
adopted the strategy of allowing the sea to do the job an open coast, waves interfere with excavation and
of removing the overlying sediments during storms. the visibility is poor. Some sectors of the sites are too
After a storm, sites are surveyed to locate newly ex- shallow to apply the underwater excavation meth-
posed areas. The rescue surveys, carried out by scuba ods developed and described for the deeper sites .
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diving or often by snorkeling, aimed at checking Thus, surveys at these sites are often undertaken by
new exposures, documenting and mapping exposed snorkeling. Excavations may be carried out by using
features and artifacts and retrieve those threatened by scuba or surface air supply from the coast, taking ad-
marine erosion or illegal treasure hunting. In cases vantage of high tide and calm sea conditions. Where
of exposure of important site features that are at risk possible, the same protocols for excavation are fol-
of destruction (e.g. human burials), rescue excava- lowed as outlined above for sites submerged in deep-
tion is carried out following the surveys. After sev- er water. In both instances the exposed site features
eral decades, numerous, but randomly exposed, sec- can rapidly erode, finds may shift or be damaged,
tions of sites have been documented in this fashion . or be covered by sand in a single rough sea episode
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Excavation: Excavation is carried out using stan- within few hours or days. Thus, the maximum infor-
dard scuba gear and a dredging system operated by mation should be extracted from the exposed sectors
a water pump set on a boat (fig. 10). The overlaying in the shortest possible time. The operation may be
deposits of unconsolidated sand and gravel covering termed “archaeological snatching”.

47 GALILI et al. 2017d.
48 GALILI et al. 1993, 2017b, also see section above.

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