The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain
Jrt4neologic,nl Ojroup No.
6
December
1978
Editor:
ANGELA
CLARKE
(CONTENTS) PHOTOGR
COVER
Inside
Hetty by
Pegler's
Michael
.APH
Tw:lp
Gill
EDITORIAL •••. •••. . . •••••. . . ••. •. •. . . ••• 1 PHOTOGRAPHING BRASSES Eric Boulder •.•..• 3 NEW EQUIPMENT EVENING John (Bill) WILLIAMS & DAVID HEYDORN .•••....••.•• 4 LETTERS . . • . • • • • • . • . • • . . • • . • . . . . . . . . • . • • . 6 PROGRAMME1979 •...•.••••..••.• ·.••••..••. 7 ROMSEY James Locke .....•••..••.•••.•.••• •8 Lyn Wyn-Davies . . . •. ••. •. . •. . ••••• 9 KING JOHN'S LODGE Lyn Wyn-Davies .• • •... 10 HISTORY TOLD BENEATH THE WAVES Ray Sutcliffe • •..••••..•......•. 11 EDITORIAL This edition of "ARCHAEOLOG" reports on the autumn season of visits and lectures which have been filling twilight and darker hours of this time of the year. But · even though the clocks have been put back to GMT, this has not diminished the Group's activities - not least of all those of the Editor over the last few weeks. · Although I hope that the style of the magazine will not change - the base for its compilation has moved 3000 miles away from London, and the Editor is now among the tiny band of overseas members. For those who have not already learnt along the grape-vine where I am - Bahrain. It may seem a long way a way, but I have already realised how essential contact with the United Kingdom is in my new job - and how relatively simple it is. So I h ope that you will feel quite willing to send me your letters, notes, news and articles for inclusion in the coming year"s ARCHAEOLOGS - i n j ust the same way as you did in England. The cost of a letter to me i n Bahrain by air mail is only l½P more than a 1st class letter in England; and takes just 4 to 5 days to get here - not that different to home? So please send your contributions - whatever their message to me, here in the Gulf: c/o FALCON PUBLISHING, PO Box 5028, MANAMA, BAHRAIN. Or, if you prefer, LONDON, Wll 3PW as
send them to the Group before, where they will
Secretary, be sent
at 7 LADBROKE WALK, on to me here.
I hope during the course of the coming year to introduce an international flavour to the contributions by persuatling some of the archaeologists here to contribute to our publication. Meanwhile, I wish all our readers a very Happy New Year, and a very successful 1979. ANGELA CLARKE - 31st
COPY
DATE
.. 2
-
December
15th
1978
FEBRUARY 1979
BRASSES
PHOTOGRAPHING ERIC HOULDER L.R.P.S.
Brasses being low-relief and highly reflective are notoriously difficult to photograph. The only chance of success appears to me to lie in the periphera¹lighting technique used by GEOFF QUICK A.R.P.S. for the West Highland stones. Geoff used flashbulbs, but as most brasses are much smaller than the Scottish grave slabs, I intended to use four electronic flash heads. In order to avoid the use of scaffolding , a wide angle lens and a small but excellent brass were needed. Luckily there is such a specimen in a local parish church at St. Helen's Burghwallis, near Doncaster (Yorkshire). The cameras I selected were Minoltas with a 28mm f3.5 Lumax. The film was Agfachrome Professional 50S , which is in my view the best reversal film. It may be marginally less sharp than its nearest rival, but the superb rendering of colour and the true-black D-max more than compensate. Another great advantage of this filrnstock is the three - hour while-you-wait processing to any ASA value between 25 and 200, - at CC in Leeds. Flashguns were an assorted collection but chiefly Sunpak. Synchronization was by a double connector and two slaves, and the diagram will illustrate how they were arranged, though it is important to note that when using units of differing power, distances must be adjusted accordingly - and the right provisions made.If, as in this case, .one side is blocked , a small pocket-type unit can be used close up. The shutter ¡must be fired from a point outside the quadrangle formed by the lights, otherwise unsightly shadows of the photographer's legs appear. When using and suffered For
those Check Dust take
this technique, it from the effects who wish
the
position
least
Make sure unsightly
try of
the brass and an exposure
Allow at brother!
this the
technique, tripod
Photographic
of
off
previous
two hours
for
the
your
best
Journal,
Slave
for
when exposing - I didn't several minutes.
the
following
unsightly
admirers'
job
eyes for
to
fingermarks
- an assistant
115,
the
No.
vicar
6,
June
-
shadows,
is
- he is
1975,
using
a torch
- before
you
useful
exposure will not include will give away the whole
efforts
Vol.
I suggest
legs
clean
that the wide-angle paraphernalia which
Send copies thought.
1
to
is vital to close the of the assorted Joules
- I took
cables process bound
pp.
to
272-77
and
my
other
appreciate
the
NE\N
EQUIPMENT JOHN (BILL) WILLIAMS and his colleague DAVID HEYDORN entertained their audience with a very fine display of Messrs. G. Elliott and sons Ltd., equipment, on 2nd October 1978 Mrs.
Phil
Leonard
reports
....•...•.....
Two large format cameras were stripped to show us both their versatility and their strong construction. It would appear that although the~e are new models due on the market in the near fut _ure, all the accessories already stocked 'will still fit the older models. The models demonstrated were: TOYO-VIEW 4SE FEATURES CHECKLIST:
: SPECIFICATIONS
• Standard view camera, monorail type, camera movements: swings and tilts on the optical axis, plus lateral shifts, rising front and back for total image control. • Universal camera back accepts all standard 4" x 5" film ~ciders, Polaroid Film Holder model 545, Polaroid Pack film holder 405 and Grafmatic Pack film holders. • 6 x 7cm and 6 x 9cm roll film formats can be taken photo• graphs by the Graflex type roll film holders for 4" x 5" without adapter . • Bellows construction permits camera movements with most wide angle lenses. • Dual lockings for swings, tilts and lateral shifts. • Ground glass back changesconveniently from horizontal to vertical. • Rack and pinion movement with lock for rising front 3flfl back .
No. and Code Formats Lens board Movements: . Rise Shift Tilt Swing Camera back Micro foc .. ing Monorail, unextendable
Dimensions :
Le119th Height Width
Weight Flange back w/std. lens board & std. camera beck: W/recoaed board :
No . 94 TV45E 4 x 5 in. standard. 6 x 7 & 6 x 9cm with or without Quick Roll Slider 158 x 158mm Toyo -View standard Identical to both standards 90mm 32+32mm 30 + 30 degrees 20 + 20 degrees Universal camera back can accept roll film holders for 4 x 5 in. 42mm on both standards Overall length : 474mm Actual length : 452mm Diameter : 39mm 474mm 330mm 280mm 4kg
85 to452mm 47 to 414mm
TOYO-VIEW 45G FEATURES CHECKLIST:
SPECIFICATIONS
• The most advanced view camera in the world, which provides perfect movements with so smooth con:rol and
No . and Code Formats
accuracy. • Universal camera back accepts all standard 4" x 5" film holders, Polaroid film holders model 545 and 405 and Pack film holders (Grafmatic and Fuji Quick Changer). • Fine grain ground glass with 10mm graduations and a micro-fresnel lens ensures fast accurate focusing. • Revolving camera back is very smooth and rotates 360 degrees, and click stops every 90 degrees, can be locked at any poiition . • Rack and pinion movements for rising and shift are very smooth for micro adjustment . • Interchangeable Bellows is so easy to change for Balloon or Longer Bellows . • Two spir it levels on rear and front standard for bringing both standards to vertical or aligning camera on horizontal and vertical axes for zeroing .
~
No.SO TV45G 4 x5 in . standard, 6x 7 & 6 x9cm with or without Quick Roll Slider Lens board 158 x 158mm Toyo -View standard Movements : Identical to both standards Rise 115mm Shift 35 + 35mm Tilt 45 + 35 degrees Swing 30 + 30 degrees Camera back Revolving , Universal camera back with 10mm grid ground glass with 6 x 7 & 6 x 9cm indications, fresnel lens com • bined , with focusing hood. Micro focusing 60mm on both standards Monora il, extendable Overall length : 540mm Actual length : 500mm Diameter: 39mm Dimensions : Length I 540mm Height 1 330mm - ~:----'W;.::i :::d.::th:_~ i 2:;,.64:;.:m.::m:.:.:... _________ --J Wei!'~ . __ 5kg Flange back_w_/,...st -:d,-.:-le -,,.-....L.I board & std . camera back: ; 85 to 485mm W/recessed board: I 4 7 to 447mm
-=-"-------------1
Both
Sole
4
cameras
Importers
are
manufactured
and
UK Agents:
by:
SAKAI SPECIAL CAMERA MFG CO. LTD. 3-1, 4 Cho~e Chokoji-Minami, Toyonaka OSAKA 560 JAPAN (Tel. (06) 864-0466) GEORGE ELLIOTT AND SONS LTD. Worcester House, Vintners Place, LONDO~ EC4V 3HH (Tel. 01- 236 2248)
City,
Other items of by Mr. Williams.
interest
manufactured
by the
same
company
were
highlighted
LENS BOARD 27 mm. recessed board for wide-angle lenses. (Cat.
Toyo-Field no. 1640
45A, suitable LBW4F).
for
short
focus
and
BALLOON BELLOWS Wide-angle use camera
Balloon Bellows movements with
for Toyo-Field a short focus
45F and 45G. lens. (Cat. No.
Gives 1021
easier to BB45M).
FILM HOLDERS AND FOCUSING HOODS - Quick which black - Roll
Roll Slider can be used standard. film
holder
with ASA installation, identical to No. 10~3 and for 4 x 5 in. cameras which _provided international (Cat. No. 1043 SMII4A and 1045 SGII4A.) for
Mamiya
- Graphic standard roll Horseman 7000 series.
Press
film holders (Cat Nos.
included for Mamiya 1033 ¡ SMII4V and 1035
- Focusing Hood 45MB. Toyo standard 4 x 5 in. foldable ground glass, and can be spread 90 degrees for lupe (Cat. No. 2006 FH45MB). - Focusing Hood 45L. for focusing cloth.
Rubber (Cat.
1035
hood with l.5x lupe, No. 1024 FH45L.)
RB and SGII4V
hood, focusing.
eliminates
Topcon refer).
protects
the
necessity
- Focusing Hood 45R. Reflex mirror hood with binocular l.5x seen upright image for vertical and horizontal compositions. (Cat. No. l026 ¡FH45R.)
lupes,
can
In addition for everyone
were
displayed
to this equipment, to study:
Electric
thermometer
for
other
new pieces
colour
processing
lecture
purposes
of
equipment
be
Two blower-cooied lamps i.e. 1000 watt and 1200 watt - Audio-visual
machine
for
- Two B+W Special Effect lens i.e. Cross Screen filter - 4-ray, and a Spectra-star Both
of
these
filters
May I thank Mr. Williams their demonstration for
are
attachments 6-ray
and
manufactured
and Mr. Heydorn a most entertaining
8-ray by:
(etched) FILTERFABRIK 62 Wiesbaden W Germany.
on behalf of all and instructive
those present evening.
at
PHIL LEONARD
5
LETTERS Very many thanks to all those who wrote wishing us a happy Christ as and New Year. On behalf of all those involved in running the Group and "archaeolog", I would like to wish all our readers everything they _themselves wish for in 1979.
It is Parker
not often writes:
that
we hear
from
the
Channel
Islands,
but
Geoffrey
"I · joined the Group because I have become involved in photographing some of the activities of the archaeological section of La Societ~ Jersiaise, here in Jersey. I have photographed all sorts of objects found in digs, and I have also illustrated many of the exhibits in the archaeological museum with location pictures, some of which are landscape and seascape views. One of these was a B&W mural 3 x 1½ metres of the promontory at the south-west of the island which contains the La Gotte cave, which has been excavated for many years, yielding_2nd Ice Age mammoth and othe ~ remains. I made some pictures there last September for Prof McBurney of Cambridge, who, with his students and members · of La Societe, engaged in what was the last dig for some time to come. " My interest i"l!I more in the photography than the archaeology, but I always like to receive more information. I use Hasselblad equipment (as does this issue's cover photographer, Michael Gill:Ed), and for pottery, flints etc, I use a 2-head Bowens Flash. I shoot vertically (or nearly) downwards, the tripod straddling a sheet of plate glass between two tables, and the shaddows just disappear in the background cloth on the floor below. Small objects I suspend on a strip of sellotape over a li~ht box (a Durst enlarger colour mixing box). I light the object (coin, brooch, ornament etc) with a slide projector at about 9 inches distance (225 mm). A white card, hand held, fills in the shaded side with diffused light. Again I find no shadows, and an empty white background."
Thank you for these interesting to hear from more pe _ople about and failures. Ed.
ideas their
Geoffrey. techniques,
I would like successes,
"archaeolog" was originally conceived for those living far from the Qroup 1 s mainstream activities. You can not get much further than Australia, and it is pleasing to note that it is going down well down under. Philip Mumby writes from New South Wales: "I have been associated with the RPS for a number of years now, and at various times belonged to a number of groups. This is the first time in my experience that any of the groups has remembered those, such as myself, in some far-flung corner of what was once an empire. I do thank you sincerely for your Group journal, and sent by a~rmail too! "My interest in archaeology is hobby-wise, and neither academic nor photographic. My own field in photography (from which I am now largely retired) was photomicrography. The past, however, bas interested me for a long time, and so I thought that I would try out your Group with very rewarding results. I have read every word of your journal; how I could have wished to be with you at Avebury, despite the weather." Philip Mumby goes on to add that he hopes to be in UK in summer ._1979 - we look forward to meeting you then. Meanwhile you may be interested to know that we have a lecture on photomicrography lined up for next winter season, and this will of course be featured in an issue of "archaeolog" in Spring 1980. Meanwhile very many thanks for your kind words - they are greatly appreciated. Ed
s
PROGRAMME '79. Monday
5th February 6.30 pm Annual General Meeting 7.00 pm "The Parthenon" Brian F Cook, Keeper of' the Department of' Greek & Roman Antiquities at the British ~useum will be giving an illustrated lecture on the Parthenon. He will give an idea of' the building, its importance,and signif'icance within the context . of' Greece in the Fif'th Century BC. The lecture will be of' particular interest and importance to those who will visit the British Museum to photograph in the Greek & Roman Galleries on Wednesday 14th February at 6.00 pm at the British Museum. Details f'rom Tony Pearce. Monday
5th March 7.00 at the RPS House Prof'essor Peter Warren of' Bristol University has been excavating at the site of' Acrotiri on Thera f'or several seasons.He is known not only as an authority on the Aegean, but also as good photographer, which means that this lecture promises to be outstanding.
Saturday
Monday
6th
31st March The workshop on archaeologica had to be postponed due to administrative now be in April at the National Maritime to this event in the Photographic Journal
l photography has reasons. It will Museum. All refernces are incorrect.
2nd.April Due to the f'act that John Matthers will f'or Bit-Agusi in Syria, he will be unable to give and so this too has been postponed until later in 9t h April Members of' the Symposium in Birmingham Tony Pearce f'or details.
May & June
- visits
annual
to
Butser,
Group will University Canterbury
be searching this lecture, the year.
be attending the Classical anyone interested contact
& Richborough.
congress
On the occasion of' the bicentenary of' this f'amous industrial complex the Group will be holding i$s Fif'th Annual Congress in Ironbridge, Salop f'rom 20 - 22 July 1979. Mark this in your diary now - details in the next "archaeolog".
RPS/Kodak National Championship 1978/79 Do you want to win a f'ree RPS Subscription, f'ree colour f'im, or a £500 Alitalia Prize Holiday f'or two in Rome. The Group is invited to submit an entry f'or the RPS/Kodak National Championship - Details f'rom Tony Pearce, 7 Ladbroke Walk, London W11 JPW
HELP!!! In order to make "archaeolog" viable, we have launched a major publicity and recruitment campaign. Please help if' you can by displaying a poster at your photographic or archaeological club, local library, local museum, or giving leaflets to your f'riends who might be interested. Publicity ma't:erial · ·is available f'rom - guess where - Tony Pearce.
7
ROMSEY
***
JAMES LOCKE was there
.•...•.••....•
On Saturday, 14th October, members, and some non-members of the Archaeological Group rendezvous'd at Greatbridge House, Ramsey, by kind permission of Courtenay Hosking. Coffee was served and an introductory talk and slide show was given by Kevin Stubbs, now Senior Conservation Assistant, Historic Buildings Bureau, Hampshire County Council. An interesting display of photographs designed to illustrate archaeological and building record work and vernacular architecture - also by Kevin Stubbs, was laid on in the hall. The party moved to Ramsey in convoy and was treated to an enormously interesting guided tour by Mr. Stubbs, who, in his previous capacity as Field Director, Test Valley Archaeological Committee, was responsible for excavations to facilitate underpinning, damp eradication, drainage installation and exploratory excavation to establish the reasons for structural failure. He also investigated the discovery of the "Ramsey Rose" in a put-log hole, which was well received by an excited national press. He was therefore uniquely qualified to guide an inquisitive group of historically and archaeologicallyminded folks on a tour of places normally closed to the public. On his tour he pointed out the various stages of construction as evident in the deflection in the parapets of the nave walls, the various styles of triforium arch and the differing radii in the crossing arches. As Lyn Wyn-Davies comments later, the visit to the involved some fairly exciting moments at triforium levels where the safety rail had ceased to e~ist.
bell-tower and clerestorey
The trip to the roof was partly spoiled by the fog, but it was by no means dense enough to conceal the very marked deflection of the nave walls, caused partly by the weight of the lead roof forcing them outwards. Evidently, the original tie beams were removed by the Victorians during roof restoration with the result that the walls began to lean outwards. The method of reinforcement employed involved the use of conventional stainless steel tie bars - suitably coloured to blend in with the surroundings - anchored in a concrete collar cast at parapet level. The medieval floor tiles sport some fifty-four patterns - now catalogued. A medieval painting with an interesting history has been spoiled sadly by rising damp, but the treatment of the walls and the painting itself has meant that it can still be seen by the visitor. The technique employed to conserve the damaged painting is perhaps complex in lay terms but not as difficult as it may sound - simply time-consuming and requiring a high degree of patience and skill. The painting was coa~ed with a mixture of size and molasses and then covered with sheets of mulberry paper. The whole is then permitted to dry and as it does so, it draws the pigment and plaster away from the stonework. This is then cut into workable pieces and the plaster is carefully removed leaving only the pigment attached to the coated mulberry paper, which is then moistened and returned to the newly rendered and treated wall. Builders' jacks were used to ensure close contact between pigment and wall surface - no other adhesives being used. The size and molasses coated paper is then removed - timing being critical: too dry and the plaster is removed once again; too moist and the size/molasses mix will not separate from the pigment. For me the day was a photographic challenge, especially King John's Lodge and I suspect that Messrs Kodak and Ilford benefitted accordingly from t11 our activities. It was a worthwhile and interesting visit - but above all it was gratifying to note the exchange of addresses at the end of the day.
B
***
***
***
LYN WYN-DAVIES was there
What a magnificent great light, not the past.
all
too
- that
is
at
ROMSEY ABBEY
day it was for getting into unlikely of it from James Locke's photofloods,
places and shedding ¡ on the people of
After welcome coffee at Courtenay Hosking's house, and an illustrated talk by Kevin Stubbs, we went to Ramsey Abbey, where we were a complicating factor to the authorities already coping with an exhibition of children's school work round the aisles, and preparations for a big weddi~g in the afternoon. How nice of the authorities to let us make their lives more difficult. The building is a foursquare and ultimately comforting. At first, as with so much religious architecture, the high walls, and the tiered tall stone arches of triforium and clerestorey, seemed remote and austere, but Kevin soon made the real people come bursting out of the stonework. He showed us where the nave had been lengthened, and how the arches did not quite match up, and where the builders had put differently-sized stones in on the left side of an arch, to make the join fit. One could imagine the medieval masons standing there, looking up at their finished work, and saying "it doesn't look much Fred, does it?" There they would have stood, in their leather aprons, dusting the white stone-powder from their hands, just where the children of Ramsey have their exhibition. From here we went through a secret door and allowed to walk round the triforium and clerestorey, in tiny walkways thick with dust, even past the bits where there was no protection from the drop; and the Abbey assumed its violently vertical aspect again as we looked down the infinity of white stone onto the foreshortened rows of chairs and the less privileged visitors below. Out on the roof ("last one, shut the trapdoor .... "), to walk along a foot-wide lead channel, glistening wet, spattered with brown leaves, with a two-foot-high parapet pretending to protect us from falling (don't lean on it, it may give ... Here on an outside wall was a 'sheilanagig.
")
The story goes like this. The mason, peeved with the -Abbess, had depicted her on her po. This story is fun, but obviously false. The figure is a female with spreadeagled legs and a rather odd, independent shape approaching the crucial place. To have this obvious fertility symbol on the Abbey wall is pleasing evidence of the real people of the Abbey's past. Somebody was cocking a snook (if I may be allowed the expression) at somebody - the old religion at the new, the mason at the Abbess, humour at solemnity. Further up the spiral staircase, clutching at bits of rope, electricity cables, or the bare wall, we went, into the bell-ringing room, which was surprisingly big and looked like my idea of a room in a country vicarage. How did they get the furniture up the spiral staircase? I could scarcely get myself up it, and anyone really fat would have become stuck fast after the triforium level. The room did actually have boards up recording the Grandsire Triples and Kent Treble 'Bob Majors of the past, just as in Dorothy Sayers' Nine Tailors. The wedding ringers were beginning to arrive as we wandered about, and wanted us off the roof in case we too died of apoplexy in the bell chamber, which would rather spoil things. So, we went downstairs, and walked through the children's handiwork, and photographed the stone capitals, especially the one with a little bird leaning out, and where the bits of the building of different dates met; the medieval floor tiles, and a really nice epitaph , with the couple's children sculptured in a row beneath. There was even a wall painting which had been lifted away from its wall and put back on a better surface, by a process which sounded a bit like a child's transfer, but mostly magic . wrong
. and places
t~n for
the wedding guests my photojournalistic
began to arrive - but they ideas about the on-going
stood in all the life of the Abbey.
9
KING JOHN ' S LODGE, dating from about 1240 , caused a number of members to go crazy over crown posts. Ancient timbers seem to speak straight to some people's hearts. The general public must have felt a bit de trap. We had a ladder, and tnree photoflood lamps (at least) kindly provided by James Locke, to manipulate in turn, and a number of people went up the ladder and sat on the beams to compose their pictures. Kevin Stubbs produced a screwdriver and removed the glass sheets protecting various graffiti, so we could photograph them properly. This, like the opportunity to go into usually inaccessible places in the Abbey, was a great advantage. The best graffiti of all is a sketch of King Edward I, who stayed there in February 1306. He is wearing a crown known from coin evidence to have been in use only from 1302 to 1310, which identifies him very nicely. There are sketches of . animals, but mostly shields of various nobles - the drawing of the shield being the illiterate mediaeval noble's only way of proving FITZKILROY WAS HERE. The theory is that they came with King Edward, had a party, became drunk, scratched things on the walls, sobered up the next morning, and directed someone to whitewash over their marks, which preserved them for us. Another good thing about King John's Lodge was a floor made out of knuckle bones of cattle set on end. They had worn to sort of coral-structured tesserae, and would have done really well for a set for Star Trek. So there we were - Lording it in King John's lodge. It was strewn with our cables, lights, camera bags. some of us were sitting in the roof beams, others making a barricade of tripods round the graffiti; a few sat on the windowsills and smiled benignly on the scene. Mike Roberts was showing films about the restoration of the house, tucked away round a corner. And when anyone, poised for a shot, said •please keep still everybody - the floor's rather springy" we all froze at once. That's the second great advantage of an expedition of photographers - no idiot is going to get Jn the way and ruin your masterpiecel LYN WYN-DAVIES
rn .osq .ues . mounds
markets
In direct contrast to the sculpture of the Abbey in Ramsey it is fascinating to see the intricate tracery of the Mosques in what is ¡to all intents and purposes a young country. Bahrain the home of the Dilmun over 3,000 yea-rs ago, will prove a fascinating source of delving in the coming months - not only from the archaeological point of view, but also the historic buildings of the old part of the island. I hope in the course of my travels, to bring you some of the splendours which the Gulf has to offer - perhaps in some cases not as old as we are accustomed to in England, but in their own way a variation on the theme of our Group. As it is now winter here, the French have been digging very actively and the History and Archaeology Group is a thriving organisation. It has just completed a fascinating film of the island, and I shall endeavour to encourage one or two members to contribute to the magazine - perhaps even join the group. It would be nice to think into some sort of activity Meanwhile, you a taste ANGELA
CLARKE
...
10
I shall of life
return here
that the overseas membership - hitherto a little dormant.
might
to the Mosques, Mounds and Markets with the sur., sand and sea.
blossom to
bring
HISTORY
TOLD
BENEATH THE WAVES
ON MONDAY6TH NOVEMBERRAY SUTCLIFFE, BBC-TV PRODUCER FOR "CHRONICLE" CAME TO TALK TO US ABOUT HIS WORK IN THE FIELD OF UNDERWATERARACHAEOLOGY..•••••....
The history of diving is not well has become part of an archaeological totally dependent upon technology. The tools last eight
of the years
trade have or so that
understood and discipline.
developed techniques
it is only recently that it perhaps the only one to be
very rapidly and it have advanced with
is only during any speed and
the accuracy.
The story of diving goes back one thousand years; yet unfortunately there is little documentation until 1579 when we find a one Scaphardre de Borelli trying his hand at the art. By 1772, de Freminet had managed to get a little closer to the truth as to what actually happend to the body when submerged at depth and so tested his machine hydrostatigue. By 1825 W.H. James at last got the format right, and dived with lead weights to keep him down. This device of his was in common use right up until the 1930s. Siebe Gorman and Co. Ltd designed a diving helmet which ended at the waist, but the extremely hazardous feature of this device was the fact that if the wearer bent down, he shot out leaving the helmet on the seabed. By 1837 Siebe developed a "closed" dress and helmet, which although pretty uncomfortable to look at, did at least rectify the immediate problems of his helmet's design. Lafayette devised a system for eiving in 1875, but alas the articulation was no good, and so for a long time, it seemed as though the diving bell which had been used to tremendous effect for 300 to 400 years was as yet to remain the best machine available to the diver. Cloche de Halley managed to introduce into his diving bell, much of what is needed today - a portable air supply and free movement. This was way back in But many regard E. de Halley the father of modern systems. Something smaller his device was used on the excavation of the Wasa ship (Sweden). Lethbridge's machine seemed the British answer to the problem. his diving bell in 1715. But Rowe another intrepid Englishman century, is regarded to have devised one of the most successful
1690. than
He was busy devising also busy in the 18th of diving machines.
One of the most frightening experiences our lecturer has witnessed was witnessing the well-known Belgian div ·er and archaeologist, Robert Stenuit, strap himself into a facsimile of one of these ancient machines, with chest and face more or less tied down, and bolted in, whilst relying on others to pump the air in and out for him. It takes a good deal of courage to experiment, let alone practise the finer arts of archaeology under-water. One of M. Stenuit's most exciting finds in British waters, was the discovery the galleass Girona, at Lacada Point just beyond the Giant's Causeway in Co. It proved that people went to war with rich adornments, for amongst the finds the sea-bed were gold chains, cameos, gold rings, and jewellry still preserved the sand and the sea.
of Antrim. on by
Photography proved a vital contribution to this excavation since it was possible to take accurate photographic records of the sea-bed before the air-bag system lifting the boulders dispersed the sand into clouds of misty water. Underwater archaeology has also doubled the world's sphere - during the last ten years a dozen or more the sea bed, adding to the existing 22 of a decade
knowledge astrolabes ago.
for
of navigation in one have been found on
Not everything is clearly defined which comes out of the sea bed, and radiography in recent year~has proved an vital source of technology to the marine archaeologist. The 3rd century Greek vessel excavated in Kyrenia Harbour (Cyprus) is a wonderful case in point. It has been possible through radiogrammetry to plot the course of the vessel within 500 miles, using the amphora which were part of her cargo. Marine
archaeology
provides
a microcosm
of
life,
whether
it
be almonds
or guns.
11
The
Fifteenth ~
, 12
Century
Porch
by Bert
at
Shoreham
Crawshaw
Church,
Kent
ARPS
Published £or the Archaeological Group of the RPS by RPS Publications Ltd. Printed on offset litho by Swiftprint Ltd., Campden Hill Road, London W8