10 UNDERWATERARCHAEOLOGY
and what has been achieved. Due to the enormous expense
involved in some larger projects, it is crucial to have
transparent management and financial decisions so that
others can judge whether money is being well spent.
Some projects are mainly concerned with the appearance
of the vessel or object – the main aim is display and com-
munication. Some projects aim to study construction and
therefore pay great attention to the tools and materials used.
Such studies may involve only partial or scaled-down
reconstructions. The most ambitious way to investigate the
performance and function of a vessel is through a full-
scale reconstruction, although tank-testing models and
computer modelling are also very significant in this area.
All are valid aims and have a contribution to make, even
if on occasion it is more in terms of evoking the spirit of
past endeavours rather than gathering useful data.
Experimentation is enormously valuable in encourag-
ing people to look more closely at the material used to
make inferences about the past. Often it is the only way
to study the complex functional relationship between
objects and to approach an understanding of the human
element involved in their construction and use. Without
an honest assessment of the aims and methods of a
project and a detailed, objective record of the results, the
usefulness of a reconstruction, whether a single object
or an entire vessel, will be very limited.This chapter has attempted to clarify exactly what
archaeology is, where it has come from, what motivates
archaeologists and how they approach their subject. For
information about the basic principles behind archae-
ological practice, please see chapter 4.FURTHER INFORMATION
Harris, E. C., 1989 (2nd edn), Principles of Archaeological
Stratigraphy. London.
McGrail, S. (ed.), 1984, Aspects of Maritime Archaeology and
Ethnology. London.
Muckelroy, K., 1978, Maritime Archaeology. Cambridge.
Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P., 2004 (4th edn), Archaeology: The Key
Concepts. Oxford.
Throckmorton, P., 1990, The world’s worst investment: the
economics of treasure hunting with real life comparisons,
in T. L. Carrell, (ed.), Underwater Archaeology: Proceedings
of the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference 1990.
Tucson, Arizona.Adams, J., 2002, Maritime Archaeology, in C. Orser
(ed.), Encyclopaedia of Historical Archaeology, 328–30.
Oxford.
Bass, G. F., 1990, After the diving is over, in T. L. Carrell
(ed.), Underwater Archaeology: Proceedings of the Society
for Historical Archaeology Conference 1990. Tucson,
Arizona.
Delgado, J. P. (ed.), 2001 (new edn), Encyclopaedia of Under-
water and Maritime Archaeology. London.
Gamble, C., 2006 (new edn), Archaeology: The Basics. Oxford.
Green, J., 2004 (2nd edn), Maritime Archaeology: A Technical
Handbook. London.