Page 172 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

© Syddansk Universitet.
Dr. David Gregory of the Conservation Department of the National Museum of Denmark analyses samples to study the degree of degradation in the context of a project aiming at preservation of a site in situ. All persons on the project team shall be qualified and have demonstrated competence appropriate to their roles in
the project, which can be in the laboratory as well as in the field.
could generally not dive and could therefore not actually visit the sites being investigated. Their input and control was thus always limited. As a result, much of the artefact material recovered lacks proper provenance and is today of only limited archaeological and historical value. A lack of proper record-keeping and limited compliance with the professional or ethical requirement to publish has been the result, and the quality and quantity of what is known today from the many wreck investigations led by non-archaeologists is alarmingly limited. This is of course not exclusively the case. There are some shining examples of projects carried out to a very high standard by individuals who have not been trained as professional archaeologists.
Development of new standards: The growing body of professional, academically qualified underwater archaeologists around the world has gradually seen this situation change. A shift in legislation and policy around the world, given impetus by first the ICOMOS Charter on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage (1996) and the Annex to the 2001 Convention, has seen more and more countries rightly siding with the credentialed professionals for close overall supervision, not oceanographers and not treasure hunters.
Many competent authorities are now rightly insisting in line with the Annex that interventions in underwater heritage must take place under the direction, control and regular presence of a suitably qualified archaeologist. Just as the refereeing of an important national or international sporting event would not be put in the hands of someone lacking the necessary qualifications, accreditation and ex- perience, so there is no reason why it should be considered acceptable that the responsibility for the investigation of the fragile, common underwater heritage should be entrusted to an unqualified non- professional.
Some countries require the archaeologist to be pre- sent all the time. In others this is not a requirement, as long as regular site visits take place during fieldwork and the archaeologist and field team –
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Competence and qualifications