Underwater Archaeology - volunteering
When you've got a few dives under your belt, you may feel you want to use your skills effectively. Accomplished divers sometimes have the opportunity to assist with underwater archaeology, often on wrecks but also on submerged settlements and other such sites. However, such dives require special skills - it is easy to damage a site beyond recovery so it is important to ensure recreational divers dive responsibly around wrecks and take a "look but don't touch" approach unless they are authorised to work on the wreck.
How it works
Before a wreck is located, it's often necessary to search archives and ask fishermen where nets get stuck. In some parts of the world sponge and pearl divers often know similar information. With the rough area mapped out, wrecks can be located exactly using a range of techniques from scuba diving, magnetometer or metal detector, sonar, through to side scan sonar with GPS satellite navigator and video plotter. Sometimes an air survey is used, especially if searching for a military wreck.
Clearing
Often the first job is to suction up silt with suction tubes and slice through undergrowth with water lances. It's like a big spring clean underwater!
Surveying
Once the site is cleared, a reference grid is installed on the site which aids in calculations and registration of data, the most common technique is to place a grid of nylon cables or PVC tubing in 2x2 metre or 4x4 metre squares.
Cataloguing
All objects found are numbered, then photographed, then the number is copied onto the photograph to give a record of the site before anything was moved. This can be invaluable in working out how and why a wreck went down and is why lifting objects from a site can damage history, forever. Following this, the objects are lifted.
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