Page 379 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

358 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
Figure 13.1 Museum exhibition of the Ulubrunu, a 14th century BC shipwreck in the Bodrum Museum, Turkey.
Gawronski, 1987; Gawronski and Kist, 1984; Green, 1977b, 1986b; Ingelman-Sundberg, 1978; Larn, 1985a and b; Marsden, 1974, 1976, 1978; Martin, 1972; Pijl-Ketel, 1982; Sténuit, 1974). In some cases, authors have classified material according to their functions on the ship, which has rele- vance to the written record. In other cases, objects have been classified according to material type (Green, 1977b). Classifying by material type has a number of advantages: the classification process is simple and straight- forward, and can be applied from the moment of recovery, making it a very practical system for the management of a collection without reference to the written record. This mode of classification also suffers from a number of disadvantages. In particular, the system is completely arbitrary, so that artifacts having the same function are dissociated. Therefore it is more dif- ficult, for example, to integrate with the historical information. In the func- tional approach, there is the problem of identification of the function. This is a complex issue and, if historical material is to be used, it requires a detailed understanding of the system used by the ship’s company and a working knowledge of the disposition of the source material.
If the functional approach is used, the material can be divided into various categories such as equipment and materials related to the use onboard the ship, ship’s supplies and provisions, personal items, supplies