Page 39 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

18 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
foreign country and work in the archives. It is therefore a good idea to go to the archives and conduct a survey of what is required and then order microfilms of the material. In this way the documents can be read using a microfilm reader at home at a later date and the research is not limited by the opening and closing hours of the archives and libraries.
The secondary sources are where the primary sources have been com- piled as, for example, in Calendar of State Papers (Sainsbury, 1870), the general letters of the VOC (Coolhaas, 1960–1968). In most cases the author, or editor, has read through the primary, handwritten manuscript sources, has selected the sections that are considered to be the most interesting (dis- carding the rest), and published them in a printed form. The result is easy to read and is very useful because it usually has extensive indices. Thus the secondary sources are often the easiest way to get to the primary source material. Inevitably, however, information is left out of these compilations, so for any serious study it is essential to refer to the primary source. It may well be that the compiler considered wrecks to be of no real importance, and therefore left them out of the edition. After all, something has to be discarded.
It is possible to employ archivists to do the research. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. It is often cheaper and quicker to employ someone who knows the archives intimately and knows how to read and translate the documents. However, the disadvantages are that researchers generally follow instructions to the letter and often miss important items because they do not have firsthand experience of the subject. Additionally, the investigator does not get to know the background information which will give a broader understanding of the subject. For example, if information is requested on the loss of a certain vessel, that is what will be given, but it may be that there was some peculiarity about the event that to the researcher may seem irrelevant, but to the investigator it may be crucial. By doing the work, other information may be learned that is related or is more significant. This is an important factor to remember, because the archivist will not be familiar with the investigator’s particular interest. Possibly, one could get the researcher to do the initial research to locate the main references and then this could be followed by a period of firsthand study.
III. SITE RESEARCH
If underwater archaeological survey work is planned in a place where the investigator has not worked before, it is important to gather as much information about the area as possible. The obvious initial source is the Admiralty Chart of the area. However, often public works departments, lands departments, or ordinance survey maps give more detail, particularly