Page 149 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

are variable, the plan –and even more importantly, the team– should be extremely flexible to make the best of a spell of favourable conditions. One can recover from the extra effort when the weather breaks. If conditions are more stable, one can be slightly more relaxed on running the extra mile. Equipment-wise, redundancy does not seem to exist. Backups that can be deployed at short notice, when a compressor, a pump, a generator, or an outboard motor fails, are essential. Nevertheless, there will always be weak links and unforeseen setbacks that may build up in a way to threaten the project. Besides the purely archaeological contingencies and the logistics of making sure that all pieces of equipment arrive before they are needed and that specialist operators are available at the right moment, there are other aspects that need to be part of the risk-assessment in view of funding.
There can for instance be
• extreme weather conditions;
• changes in the legal context (a permit is
withheld, a contract is not signed etc.);
• failure of expensive equipment or an
anticipated research vessel;
• accidents (emergency situations for the staff
etc.); and
• problems of funding (sudden end to
funding or a delay in receiving the foreseen subsidies etc).
A risk profile should be drafted for all archaeological operations based on the evaluation of external and internal risk factors, including emergency responses and alternative operations. Furthermore, one should consider contracting an insurance that, depending on the project, can cover the whole project or some particular risks that could be incurred, despite planning for their avoidance. Diving accidents are such a risk and a severe one.
Interruption of funding
Contingency plans shall cover all eventualities, but
particular attention should be paid to unanticipated 148
©J.Auer.Archaeologist
Thijs Maarleveld taking notes
on deck on a sunny day during the annual field course of
the Maritime Archaeology Programme of the University
of Southern Denmark in 2010, when the course was organized jointly with Archaeological Agency of Schleswig Holstein
in the Kieler Bugt, Baltic Sea. Timekeeping, recordkeeping
and bookkeeping are crucial to the success, efficiency and safety of any project. Archaeological projects and projects at sea, with their many contingencies are
no exception to this rule; to the contrary!
Funding