Archaeological Atlas of the 2 Seas
The HWTMA has been awarded funding for the Archaeological Atlas of the 2 Seas project, an international venture that will enhance our understanding of the submerged heritage of the Channel and southern North Sea. The grant has been provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG IVA 2 Seas Programme. The aim of this project is to learn more about the maritime past by researching, discovering and recording archaeology below our common waters. The collaborative fieldwork will be used to engender international co-operation while the information gathered will accessible to all through an online database.
The first stage of the project will involve merging data related to underwater archaeological sites in Belgium, the United Kingdom and France in order to create a comprehensive database of the underwater archaeological landscape. Further research and data gathering will also be carried out. International co-operation is an important part of the agenda for this project and will be reflected at this stage through allowing common access to archival resources in all three countries.
The research stage will enable the project partners to determine zones of major interest for archaeological survey. Areas of interest already identified in France were subject to a geophysical and archaeological survey conducted off the coast of Brittany in September 2009.
A programme of survey and diving has been developed for 2010 in France, Belgium and England and fieldwork is also planned for 2011. The fieldwork will involve students and volunteers allowing for the development of archaeological skills for sport divers and future professionals. International collaboration will also be reflected in this fieldwork stage with the survey work in the three countries involving an international team.
Results from both the research and survey phases will be fed into an open access online Geographic Information System (GIS) linked database of underwater archaeological sites of the Channel and the southern North Sea. The Atlas of the 2 Seas database will be open-source based and compatible with existing archaeological databases. The data collected during the project will also be fully accessible to update existing databases. The database will be hosted online at the project website which is currently being created and will soon be accessible at www.atlas2seas.eu. The website will be trilingual and also contain news updates about the progress of the project and a youth oriented interactive area.
The project will run from 2009 to 2012 yielding an exciting cross-border dataset that will be accessible to all. The international nature of the project will allow for expertise to be shared between the partners enabling the development of techniques in both data management and archaeological survey. The lead organisation in the project is the Association for the Development of Maritime Archaeological Research (Adramar), working with the partnership of the Flemish Heritage Institute (VIOE) and the HWTMA. The project is made possible by the collaboration of the Department of Underwater and Marine Archaeological Research (Drassm) in France, and close liaison with English Heritage (EH) will ensure that it supports the national maritime research agenda in the UK.
