Underwater non-destructive survey in connection with a project for "Multidisciplinary research of the Burgas bay - MIDBAY"

Abstract

The survey was conducted in relation to a project for multidisciplinary research of the Burgas Bay – MIDBAY (to create a detailed digital elevation model of the sea bed to analyze the modern geomorphological situation and to create an archaeological predictive model). The project is funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund and the partners are the Institute of Oceanology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science and the Centre for Underwater Archaeology at the Ministry of Culture. The area is deemed of high interest due to the already recorded archaeological sites and artefacts and the vast coastal floodplain valley inundated during the Holocene and the Late Quaternary (fig. 1). As a result of the current survey, an area of 90 km2 was covered, divided into two polygons (fig. 2), using a multibeam echosounder (fig. 3) and a side-scan sonar (fig. 4). With the later, 30 anomalies of unknown origin were found on the seabed (fig. 5). The survey followed predetermined tracks up to to 350 m apart, depending on the relief of the sea bottom. The project is planned to continue until 2022 and during that time additional areas will be surveyed, sediment samples will be taken and dives will be conducted onto the said anomalies to verify their origin and structure. One of the ultimate project’s goals is creating an archaeological predictive model indicating areas with higher archaeological potential in the surveyed area.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Pavel, Yordanov Georgiev: orcid.org/0000-0003-2744-2055

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