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Encyclopaedia of Underwater Archaeology. Vol 1, Underwater Archaeology (various authors); Vol 3, Mare Nostrum: The Roman Sea by Gabriel de Donato
Encyclopaedia of Underwater Archaeology. Vol 1, Underwater Archaeology (various authors); Vol 3, Mare Nostrum: The Roman Sea by Gabriel de Donato
The Encyclopaedia of Underwater Archaeology is a series of slim volumes aimed at a general readership. The books are well-designed and pictorially stunning, with superb photographs by Christoph Gerigk and FrÃ?dÃ?ric Osada.
The introduction to the series, Underwater Archaeology, provides a broad-brush overview of the discipline's history and techniques. Though it achieves this basic goal, it is dominated by the work of Franck Goddio and his colleagues in the Mediterranean and Far East.
While no encyclopaedia can cover everything, northern Europe and North America are not mentioned at all. What about the Vasa and the Mary Rose on this side of the pond, or the Hunley and La Belle in the States, not to mention a myriad of smaller but equally productive projects in both regions? Some degree of selectivity is inevitable, but the total omission of so much key material is another matter.
Mare Nostrum, a volume which takes as its theme the Roman Mediterranean, is on stronger ground. Here the focus is sharp, with a tightly-written historical summary charting Rome's emergence as a seapower and describing the wreck of the oared warship at Marsala in Sicily.
This is followed by summaries of 10 excavations of merchant shipwrecks which chart the Roman Empire's commercial expansion in the first two centuries AD through to its subsequent decline. Particularly notable is the big wine-carrier at Madrague de Giens, off the south coast of France, excavated in the '70s and '80s.
Another highlight is the recovery of the Emperor Caligula's two floating palaces sunk in Lake Nemi near Rome, although this wasn't an underwater excavation at all - Mussolini ordered the lake to be drained to reveal the ships! Unfortunately, both were destroyed in World War Two.
These two books and, I hope, others to follow in the series, provide an easily-digested and informative general introduction to the ever-growing achievements of underwater archaeologists.
But they are not the last word, and (on the showing of these volumes) the series demonstrates a geographical bias which ignores our own archaeologically productive seas. Readers who want to know what's going on closer to home may have to look elsewhere.
Colin Martin
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| Encyclopaedia of Underwater Archaeology. Vol 1, Underwater Archaeology (various authors); Vol 3, Mare Nostrum: The Roman Sea by Gabriel de Donato (Periplus, ISBN 1-902699-42-4 (Vol 1) and 1-902699-55-6 (Vol 3). Hardback, 73pp / 75 pp, £25 each |
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