Shipwreck biographies: an integrated methodology for the re-investigation and ongoing management of shipwreck sites of the English Channel

Abstract

The research presented herein seeks to utilise Keith Muckelroy’s body of theory regarding maritime archaeology while also investigating alternate methodologies deemed useful and appropriate for the re-investigation of known shipwreck sites that are considered to be discontinuous, disturbed, and/or scattered. These previously investigated sites have varying levels of preservation and, as a result, varying levels of perceived interpretive value. It is the goal of this research to assess these sites, identify previously untapped datasets, and suggest potential management strategies going forward, in order to determine if these sites are too fragmentary to yield new research avenues.

The key output of this research is the development of an integrated complex of tools for the study of previously investigated shipwreck sites. A secondary output is the development of a glossary of terms relevant to all aspects of the analyses included within this research. A third output is to recommend the application and use of the phrases shipwreck biography and site transformation processes as of importance when analysing the variety of cultural and non-cultural processes at work on shipwreck sites. The final output is the conceptual distinction and application of life histories and shipwreck biographies on a series of previously investigated shipwreck sites, as an avenue to identifying new management directions for each of these sites.

The author suggests that the complex of tools utilised within has successfully identified additional research avenues for each of the three case study sites, beyond those that have been previously documented as a result of previous investigations. The shipwreck biographies generated are the product of the compilation of the following datasets: shipwreck histories; artefact distribution maps, where possible with current research; assessment of site formation and transformation processes, including all documented environmental analyses conducted on the sites to date; execution of tracer artefact studies on two of the three study sites; and, lastly, combination of all datasets into unified shipwreck biographies. The synthesis of the current environmental conditions, known historical information about the ship, the wrecking event, and the previous documentation of the archaeological site have been effectively combined to provide the link between the past and present environment, between the ship as a cultural entity and the shipwreck as an archaeological site, between the artefact on the seabed, the current site interpretation, and recommendations for ongoing management practices.

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ORCID for Jo Adams: orcid.org/0000-0003-1765-7060

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