Move over salvage divers: Endangered cultural heritage on the seafloor

[MiddenMonster]

Archaeologists are seeking stricter measures to protect "endangered cultural heritage" that resides underwater. This heritage consists of human settlements dating to ice age times when sea levels were much lower. This cultural heritage is endangered by "gravel and sand harvesting, wind turbine construction, cable laying and fishing activities." Sounds like a slippery slope to me. It would be hard cheese if people had to conduct an archaeological impact survey of 10,000 square miles before they could harvest some sand. Here's the article:

Endangered cultural heritage on the seafloor: Underwater archaeology in the North and Baltic Seas

BTW, it's going to be interesting to see who can claim submerged cultural heritage if it dates to prehistoric times!

 

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[Kray Gelder]

There's no doubt some artifacts are dredged up from time to time from the bottom of the North Sea, The Channel, the Irish Sea. If you look at what has been excavated on dry land, in the last century, digs on sites going back to the paleolithic, the days of the Neanderthals, that is what one would be likely to find on the sea bed. It takes enormous effort, and resources, to do a proper archeological study, on the tiniest of plots on dry land. The methods used would not be applicable under water. And what do we find on those digs?
Interesting traces of post holes, enabling mapping of round houses, former settlements. Ditches, rotted logs, ceremonial pits ( small ) with a few offerings. Occasional precious metal artifacts. Archies can reconstruct centers of activity, settlement, gathering places. Older sites produce flint flakes and tools, some extraordinary stone works of art, in the form of axes.

To call it cultural heritage is a stretch, IMO, as finds would be more like evidence of past life. Not really earth shaking stuff, but merely an intellectual exercise. It was tribal at that time, minor settlements or migratory. They weren't building Atlantis, but rather homes of stone and wood. The great recoverable natural resources are located in these shallow continental shelves, all of which would hold some artifacts from the ice age peoples. Not worth the economic cost to save for some graduate student's summer exercise.

 

[ARC]

How else would anyone finally find them if people did not just do people things.

Half of all discoveries... if not more... have been found by "accident" and generally in the normal process of "growth".

The other half was found via luck. heh

For those that seek through research are on a very... very... long path.

 

[MiddenMonster]

There's no doubt some artifacts are dredged up from time to time from the bottom of the North Sea, The Channel, the Irish Sea. If you look at what has been excavated on dry land, in the last century, digs on sites going back to the paleolithic, the days of the Neanderthals, that is what one would be likely to find on the sea bed. It takes enormous effort, and resources, to do a proper archeological study, on the tiniest of plots on dry land. The methods used would not be applicable under water. And what do we find on those digs?

I think traces of Neanderthal culture on the seabed is pushing it, since the Last Glacial Maximum began just as the Neanderthals were checking out. I think the sea levels would have been too high for them to have been much further out than what the existing shoreline covers. I also understand archaeologists wanting to study human cultural evolution, but that can't take precedence over progress. If it did, most of Europe, North America and Asia couldn't be developed in any way that was economical. That would leave the Arctic and Antarctica as the only places devoid of significant human occupation. And even then, the zoologists, botanists and environmental wackos would try to halt it in its tracks for similar reasons. The world would be a very sad place if you had to get permission from every special interest group before you stuck a shovel in the ground or dredged up a bucket.

 

[jeff of pa]

if no one sees it, and own it, it isn't real.

but it's an Easy Fix !

a World-Wide opening of the Ocean floors to all who wish to grab as much of the Relics under the ocean they want.

Of course no one can control the entire world, So some areas will still go untouched.
& They will never get all, But it would save more then they can now.