Page 100 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

© Syddansk Universitet. Documentation of remains on FPL17 site, Prerow, Germany. The underwater phase of preliminary work may include the full documentation of remains extending above the bottom surface, as depicted here on
site number FPL17 off Prerow
on the southern Baltic coast
as a consequence of a possible harbour construction. It may
also be limited to more cursory inspection and assessment of sites.
regeneration of beaches, dredging, the construction of underwater outfalls and the laying of submarine cables, all potentially impact underwater cultural heritage.
Efforts to conserve the cultural heritage need therefore to be compatible with the development of today’s society and thus the overall develop- ment programme of the area they are located in, if they are to succeed. Conversely, the planning of major projects should also include the mitigation of impact on the underwater cultural heritage and thus contribute to that compatibility.
Interestingly, in large-scale and international ma- ritime project development, i.e. projects that are not directed at archaeological sites, more and more initiating operators include impact assessments in the preparation of their development proposals. These well-documented project proposals will be screened formally as soon as the competent au- thority is notified. The national authorities should also take the underwater cultural heritage fully into consideration in their strategies. It would be wise for the competent authority to require deposition of all underlying research results and raw data in the inventory of underwater cultural heritage.
To this end, it is essential to have the most possibly accurate inventories of underwater archaeological sites so that public- and private-sector construction projects implemented in proximity to them can make provisions in their design for whatever corrective measures are required to fully protect the cultural heritage. Indeed, the assessment of impact of planned interventions for authorized industrial interventions potentially affecting a site is nowadays becoming the most typical form of preliminary study and active
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Preliminary work