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Fieldwork Methodology in South American Maritime Archaeology: A Critical Review

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Abstract

In archaeology, data obtained from the analysis of material evidence (i.e., the archaeological record) from extensive excavations have been a significant means for the ultimate development of interpretations about human life in the past. Therefore, the methodological procedures and tools employed during fieldwork are of crucial importance due to their effect on the information likely to be recovered. In the case of maritime archaeology, the development of rigorous methods and techniques allowed for reaching outcomes as solid as those from the work performed on land. These improvements constituted one of the principal supports—if not, the most important pillar—for its acceptance as a scientific field of study. Over time, the growing diversity of sites under study (e.g., shipwrecks, ports, dockyards, and prehistoric settlements) and the underwater environments encountered made it clear that there was a need for the application of specific methodological criteria, in accordance with the particularities of the sites and of each study (e.g., the research aims and the available resources). This article presents some ideas concerning the methodologies used in South American investigations that have exhibited a strong emphasis on the analysis of historical shipwrecks (the sixteenth to twentieth centuries). Based on a state-of-the-knowledge review of these research projects, in particular where excavations were conducted, the article focuses on the details of the main strategies adopted and results achieved. The ideas proposed in this article can be useful as a starting point for future activities of surveying, recording, and excavating shipwrecks.

Resumen

En Arqueología, los datos obtenidos del análisis de la evidencia material (es decir, el registro arqueológico) procedente de excavaciones extensas han sido un medio significativo utilizado para la elaboración ulterior de interpretaciones sobre la vida humana en el pasado. Por lo tanto, los procedimientos metodológicos y las herramientas empleadas durante el trabajo de campo son de crucial importancia debido a sus implicaciones en la información susceptible de ser recuperada. En el caso de la arqueología marítima, el desarrollo de métodos y técnicas rigurosas permitió alcanzar resultados tan sólidos como los de los trabajos realizadas en tierra. Estas mejoras constituyeron uno de los principales apoyos, si no el pilar más importante, para su aceptación como campo científico del conocimiento. A través del tiempo, la diversidad cada vez mayor de los sitios en estudio (por ejemplo, naufragios, puertos, astilleros y asentamientos prehistóricos) y los ambientes submarinos considerados, puso de manifiesto la necesidad de aplicar criterios metodológicos específicos, de acuerdo con las particularidades de los sitios y de cada estudio (por ejemplo, los objetivos de investigación y los recursos disponibles). En este artículo presentamos algunas reflexiones sobre las metodologías utilizadas en las investigaciones sudamericanas, que han mostrado un fuerte énfasis en el análisis de los naufragios históricos (siglos XVI al XX). Sobre la base de un estado de la técnica de las investigaciones, en particular, donde las excavaciones se llevaron a cabo, nos centramos en los detalles de las principales estrategias adoptadas y los resultados logrados. Las ideas propuestas en este trabajo pueden ser útiles como punto de partida para futuras actividades de levantamiento, registro y excavación en naufragios.

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Notes

  1. In 1960, George Bass conducted the first excavation of this kind in a Bronze Age shipwreck (1200 BC) at Cape Gelidonya, Turkey. That year, John Goggin, from the University of Florida, published an article which was, for most of the professionals of the country, the first formal introduction to the practice of archaeology under water. Regarding methodological standards, he defined underwater archaeology “as the recovery and interpretation of human remains and cultural materials of the past from underwater by archaeologists”. According to Meide, he seems to have anticipated Bass’ statement when pointing out that “[i]t is far easier to teach diving to an archaeologist than archaeology to a diver!” (Goggin 1960:350) Apart from Bass’ work, important discoveries and investigations were carried out in the 1960s in different parts of the world, which included shipwrecks at Roskilde, Denmark, Vasa (Sweden), and later Mary Rose (England), Batavia (Australia) and ships belonging to the Spanish Armada (Ireland).

  2. No differentiation is made here between exploratory test trenches, but the excavation of representative areas given the particular guidelines of a research project.

  3. One of the main motivations for the declaration of the Convention is related to the commitment to improve “the effectiveness of measures at international, regional and national levels for the preservation in situ or, if necessary for scientific or protective purposes, the careful recovery of underwater cultural heritage” (UNESCO 2001: 51).

  4. In America, the distinction between prehistory and history has been marked essentially by the arrival of Europeans to the continent. In the ‘Archaeology of American tradition’ (in the majority of countries of America), archaeological sites temporally situated after this event, for which documentary sources are also usually available, are considered as “historical”. In Europe, where societies have not experienced such discontinuity, research in archaeology has been organized by periods. Given its proximity to the temporal framework and the problems analyzed, post-medieval archeology (post-AD 1450) is considered as the closest counterpart to historical archeology in America.

  5. Taking this strategy into consideration, and leaving aside its particularities, it is possible to assume that the conservation of underwater sites is not necessarily more complicated than that of sites located on land (see Maarleveld 2014).

  6. The specific information of the site was reproduced here by permission of the authors of the following report of ÀRKA. (Carabias 2009a, b). Results of the research conducted by the Centro de Investigación en Arqueología Marítima del Pacífico Sur Oriental (ARQMAR) were presented recently (Carabias et al. 2015). See also Carabias (2015), for a general review of the studies carried out in the Valparaiso Bay.

  7. Information of the site was reproduced here by permission of the authors from ÀRKA: (Carabias 2012). As for the previous case, see also Carabias (2015).

  8. The Muelle Fiscal represented the first great harbor construction work that took place in Chile during the nineteenth century. It was built between 1873 and 1883 and functioned from 1884 until the second half of the twentieth century. It had a length of 237 m and was 15.5 m wide. It allowed mooring the deep-draft vessels on the exterior and two of regular size in the interior. With enhancement works at the port in 1912, the pier was dismantled and part of its structure recycled. The piles of concrete blocks served as a support for the new line of seawalls, and as a consequence part of the actual berth follows the original orientation axis.

  9. The information on the site can be found in the following report, reproduced here by permission of the authors: del Cairo Hurtado (2016a).

  10. Specific data of this site were reproduced here from the following unpublished report with the kind permission of the author: del Cairo Hurtado (2016b). This work is framed on the lengthy research on Maritime archaeology and Conflict archaeology that del Cairo Hurtado has carried out in Cartagena de Indias (e.g., del Cairo Hurtado et al. 2003; del Cairo Hurtado and García Chaves 2006; del Cairo Hurtado 2009, 2011a, 2011b).

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Diego Carabias Amor (Chile), Carlos del Cairo Hurtado (Colombia), and Dolores Elkin (Argentina), directors of the archaeological projects referred in this article, for their support. A special thanks to Diego and Carlos, who allowed the authors to reproduce unpublished reports of the sites mentioned in this article. Also, we are thankful to Jorge Manuel Herrera Tovar and Arturo Rey da Silva, for their invitation to collaborate with this publication. Finally, a special thanks to Ana Castelli, for her generous contribution with the translation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Area of Research on Underwater Archaeology, Program of Historical Archaeology and Pluridisciplinary Studies, Department of Social Sciences, National University of Lujan (Headquarters in Ciudad de Buenos Aires), Ecuador 871 (C1214ACM), Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Amaru Argüeso & Nicolás C. Ciarlo

  2. National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Nicolás C. Ciarlo

  3. Archaeometallurgy Group, Materials Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, School of Engineering, University of Buenos Aires, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Nicolás C. Ciarlo

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  1. Amaru Argüeso
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Correspondence to Amaru Argüeso.

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Argüeso, A., Ciarlo, N.C. Fieldwork Methodology in South American Maritime Archaeology: A Critical Review. J Mari Arch 12, 179–197 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-017-9190-y

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