Page 238 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

be an answer for the reference grid, and if close to land a traditional surveyor’s Total Station can do the trick. Another step is to integrate the local grid into the land- or sea-bottom-scape, for instance, in a detailed bathymetry image.
Consideration for future research
The chosen documentation methodologies and techniques should take into account that future researchers will need to use the data to address problems not recognized at the time that the data was collected. This means that a record of primary observations and raw data should be kept alongside with the processed data. Spatial relationships between different layers and their interfaces can, for instance, profitably be analysed with the help of the so-called Harris-Matrix, but the documentation should allow reconstructing what the interpretations are based on.
It also means that destructive methods of data- gathering should not be applied to portions or elements of the site if non-destructive methods are possible. In those cases, however, where it is known that the site will be destroyed anyway, for example, when industrial construction will follow the investigation, this is not an issue. It may be far more practical and efficient to gather the needed data in the most direct manner, even though this may involve the use of destructive techniques. This is also one of the reasons why destructive archaeological research should preferably target those sites that will meet this kind of fate.
Alongside the primary aims of the documentation programme, it is quite likely that the field operation will collect data that is not fully analysed in the context of the project. Just like the raw data that is actually analysed, this additional data should also be recorded and preserved in a way to facilitate future research.
Similarly, project documentation needs to be recorded in a certain way, and order, and on media that will be equally available and comprehensible
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Documentation