Page 171 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

to properly excavate, record and report the site – but also a suitable working knowledge of the contemporary maritime technologies likely to be encountered on the site, which will allow an interpretation of the material?
• Continuing on from the above, will s/he be able to recognize and interpret the artefacts encountered?
• Does s/he have access to and knowledge of specialized authorities in the field? A wide range of specialities are likely to be associated with any underwater heritage site and an individual archaeologist cannot be expected to be the master of them all. However, it must be demonstrated that one knows who or where to go to for answers.
• What previous, practical archaeological ex- perience is possessed?
• To what extent has the archaeologist kept abreast of developments in knowledge, methods and technology in the chosen maritime archaeological specialisation?
To be assessed as competent, an archaeologist wishing to undertake or direct a project must thus be well-versed and experienced in key excavation issues, must demonstrate good practical archaeological knowledge and skills and must be in a position to draw on appropriate specialists as needed.
Regular presence of a qualified
archaeologist
Rule 22 requires that work takes place ‘under the direction and control of, and in the regular presence of, a qualified underwater archaeologist with scien- tific competence appropriate to the project’.
Historically, the involvement of archaeologists in many projects directed at underwater heritage had been limited. This has much to do with a lack of suitably qualified professionals in many countries, and has meant that much of the work directed at underwater heritage has been only marginally archaeological. Even where project archaeologists
170 did exist, they were often not maritime archaeologists,
Competence and qualifications