Written by Juliet Kerrigan
Contents Exploring the underwater world Underwater equipment What happens in the water? Ancient cargo Tudor treasure White gold Doggerland Seahenge A lost city Sword puzzle Giants from the sea Foreign gold Old and new Glossary Index Lost and found
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Exploring the underwater world Archaeologists are interested in how people lived in the past. They’ve excavated on dry land for over 150 years, but there are a lot of valuable treasures to find underwater too. Big objects in the water are sometimes spotted from planes, and experts go and have a look to see what’s there. Sometimes archaeologists search underwater for something that’s been described in books written hundreds or thousands of years ago.
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Treasure hunters hope to find gold and silver, but archaeologists want to make a map of the site, excavate, find objects which can be conserved and make a record of what’s there.
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Underwater equipment Underwater archaeology is more difficult and expensive than working on dry land. A boat is needed to get to a wreck at sea, and divers to investigate the site. If it’s difficult to see underwater, divers have powerful torches to light the way. They use waterproof pens, measuring tapes and cameras to record what they find, and excavate by hand or use a machine called an air lift, which sucks the sand up like a vacuum cleaner. Objects can be lifted to the surface in baskets, or pulled up by cranes if they’re really heavy.
a diver using an air lift
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Special cranes are used to lift large objects out of the water.
Mini submarines and robots are sometimes used to explore under the water when a wreck is too dangerous for divers. Special cameras and computers record what they find. This robot moves in the same way as a turtle swimming. Its flippers don’t disturb the water, so it’s easy to get
scientists testing the turtle robot
a good look at the objects. 5
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