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Fieldwork Aims


Project Aim

The Archaeological Atlas of the 2 Seas project involves creating a comprehensive understanding of the underwater archaeological landscape, which will include the location of known shipwrecks, contextual data and legal and regulatory information from the UK, Belgium and France. Data already held by the project partners will be merged and used to populate the database, and desk based study will provide further information. The information will be organised into a database linked to a GIS system, which will also be constructed during the project and put online. This database will be used to help orientate fieldwork towards high archaeological potential zones, with the project partners organising archaeological surveys alternating between the coasts of each partner.

Fieldwork

Verifying the data produced by the desk based study will require archaeological investigation of the potential sites identified. The archaeological surveys will take the form of geophysical and diver surveys and confirm, complete and enrich the desk based data with ground-truthed information from the archaeological deposits. The fieldwork will:

  • Put in place an international team of archaeologists;

  • Provide training with volunteers and students integrated into the heart of the archaeological team, assisting with their training and knowledge of a profession which suffers from a lack of adequate training, particularly in France and Belgium; and

  • Survey targeted sites in order to fill in gaps in data including the accuracy of position, the nature of the remains, the qualitative and quantitative importance of the deposits, and whether measures for protection or intervention need to be considered.

The project partners will gain from the exchange of experience during the fieldwork, and it will enable setting up a system for access to, and exchange of, heritage related data between countries sharing the same coastline. By consolidating the data stored in the database, this activity will benefit the scientific community and heritage managers by putting in place a sound tool with verified data. The general public will also benefit from this tool, which we hope will allow a better management of our collective heritage.

The project will run for two fieldwork seasons with provision for diving fieldwork in all three project countries.