Thijs J Maarleveld
Thijs J. Maarleveld (1953) is professor of maritime archaeology at the University of Southern Denmark, where he leads the Maritime archaeology Programme. Before his appointment in 2005 he was Head of the division of Maritime Heritage of the National Service for Archaeological Heritage (ROB/RACM) in the Netherlands and lecturer in maritime archaeology at Leiden University. He read History and Prehistory at the universities of Leiden and Amsterdam and learned to dive in 1973. In 1980 he joined the cultural policy department of the Ministry of Culture as coordinator for under water archaeology. Since then his work has been at the interface of maritime archaeological research and the deployment of practical and policy measures to enhance the use and protection of underwater cultural heritage at the national and international level.
In 1998 he took his doctoral degree at Leiden University with a dissertation on Archaeological Heritage Management in Dutch Waters. From 2008 to 2013 he was president of the International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH) of ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the non-governmental organisation advising UNESCO on heritage issues. ICUCH has been responsible for the preparation of the ICOMOS Charter on the Protection and Management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which was adopted in Sofia in 1996. The Committee is a formal advisor to the meeting of States Parties of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage which entered into force in January 2009.
With small excursions into other aspects of maritime, historic and prehistoric archaeology, Thijs J. Maarleveld's main research interests are in three overlapping fields:
1) The development of seafaring technology, notably shipbuilding technology and the way in which the study of the techniques used in shipbuilding inform us on processes of acculturation and innovation on the one hand and cultural entropy and social structure on the other.
2) The construction of (maritime) archaeological knowledge. What are the filters that apply to the way archaeological information is constructed, and in what way do these qualify what we infer, know and can know about maritime activities in the past?
3) The appreciation and meaning of (maritime) heritage in present-day society. In what different ways do governments, the general public or specific stakeholder groups react to new discoveries or old discoveries and how do persisting traditions and new perceptions of the extent and meaning of (maritime) archaeological remains and data influence their actions. What ethics do apply and how does this translate in legislation and regulation.
He published widely on archaeological issues and on the way archaeology is organised in heritage management. Popular books include Archeologie onder water (1990), Tauchgang in die Vergangenheit (2004 with Lüth & Rieck), and Maritieme Geschiedenis : De Canon van ons maritiem verleden in 50 vensters ( with ter Brugge, Dessens, Gaastra, de Goeij, Jacobs & Legêne; red. Korteweg).
He is the editor of the Maritime Archaeology Newsletter from Denmark and of the UNESCO Manual on the Rules of the 2001 Convention (with Egger and Guérin).
for the maritime archaeology programme, see:
www.maritimearchaeology.dk
Phone: +45 6011 4152
Address: Maritime Archaeology Programme
SDU
Niels Bohrsvej 9
DK 6700 ESBJERG
Denmark
In 1998 he took his doctoral degree at Leiden University with a dissertation on Archaeological Heritage Management in Dutch Waters. From 2008 to 2013 he was president of the International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH) of ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the non-governmental organisation advising UNESCO on heritage issues. ICUCH has been responsible for the preparation of the ICOMOS Charter on the Protection and Management of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which was adopted in Sofia in 1996. The Committee is a formal advisor to the meeting of States Parties of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage which entered into force in January 2009.
With small excursions into other aspects of maritime, historic and prehistoric archaeology, Thijs J. Maarleveld's main research interests are in three overlapping fields:
1) The development of seafaring technology, notably shipbuilding technology and the way in which the study of the techniques used in shipbuilding inform us on processes of acculturation and innovation on the one hand and cultural entropy and social structure on the other.
2) The construction of (maritime) archaeological knowledge. What are the filters that apply to the way archaeological information is constructed, and in what way do these qualify what we infer, know and can know about maritime activities in the past?
3) The appreciation and meaning of (maritime) heritage in present-day society. In what different ways do governments, the general public or specific stakeholder groups react to new discoveries or old discoveries and how do persisting traditions and new perceptions of the extent and meaning of (maritime) archaeological remains and data influence their actions. What ethics do apply and how does this translate in legislation and regulation.
He published widely on archaeological issues and on the way archaeology is organised in heritage management. Popular books include Archeologie onder water (1990), Tauchgang in die Vergangenheit (2004 with Lüth & Rieck), and Maritieme Geschiedenis : De Canon van ons maritiem verleden in 50 vensters ( with ter Brugge, Dessens, Gaastra, de Goeij, Jacobs & Legêne; red. Korteweg).
He is the editor of the Maritime Archaeology Newsletter from Denmark and of the UNESCO Manual on the Rules of the 2001 Convention (with Egger and Guérin).
for the maritime archaeology programme, see:
www.maritimearchaeology.dk
Phone: +45 6011 4152
Address: Maritime Archaeology Programme
SDU
Niels Bohrsvej 9
DK 6700 ESBJERG
Denmark
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board.
As yet, little is known about the voyages this ship undertook in its lifetime or the events that led to its loss in the Thames Estuary, but its final journey, from excavation to its current and hopefully last resting place, was certainly long and adventurous. Between 2004 and 2012 the wreck travelled from the Port of London Authority docks in Gravesend to Horsea Lake in Portsmouth and later to the Stoney Cove National Diving Centre in Leicestershire.
This journey is also reflected in the long and just as adventurous process of analysis and finally publication. The current volume is the result of a series of field schools and surveys, university courses and student projects as well as specialist analyses, involving students, staff and researchers from a wide range of institutions, including the University of Southern Denmark and University College London.
This volume describes the discovery, and the sequence and methodology of the archaeological interventions, as well as the wreck and related armament. Some aspects, such as reconstruction and hull design, as well as a
comparative analysis of the ship and its construction, are dealt with extensively, while others, such as archival research into the history and loss of the ship still remain to be considered and offer potential for future research.
More specifically, its contents expand on and illustrate the thirty-six Rules concerning activities directed at Underwater Cultural Heritage presented in the Annex to the Convention, and fully endorsed by the members of the Convention’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Body in May 2011."
The boat was found at 2,89 m below sea level in land that had been reclaimed in the 1940’s. It lies at the margin between the sandy Pleistocene soils of the eastern Netherlands and the Holocene West of the country. For a considerable period the site must have been covered in peat that had eroded away on the development of the Zuiderzee. The site itself lies in fluviatile sediments, partly composed of reworked cover sands that cut into the Saalian till subsoil. The sediments probably represent a small estuary at the western border of the till plateau (Drenthe plateau).
Although the boat might have been associated with a settlement in the close vicinity, it is more likely that it washed downstream in a flooding event.
The boat was salvaged in a block-lift. For this an iron frame was put around the object and dug in so deeply as to allow for a steel plate to be pushed through the underlying sediments.
The boat features a central rib and three square holes in the bottom. Two small elevations, on each side of the centre line have been left in the solid. They are not more than 1,5 – 2 cm high and have a steep front. The outer side of the boat has been worked very smoothly. The inside features regular adze marks. The logboat dates from the Iron Age, but it is hard to be more precise. A treering series could be measured, but not matched. The C-14 date has a relatively low resolution.
The closest parallel for the boat was found in 1888, less than 15 km upstream. It is the Kolderveen logboat, which is kept in the National museum of Antiquities in Leiden (Maarleveld 2008). Its dating is equally problematic.
Documentation of the boat before and after conservation reveals significant loss of form. The boat straightened and flattened. The drawing on page 26 shows the present condition in red. The drawing on page 27 shows the measurement before conservation in black. As these measurements were taken with total station in a cramped space, there is some inference in the bottom part. Cell collapse has, however, been substantial. The present form suggests an angled cross-section, whereas originally the cross-section had been rounded.
In its first surveys, it is quite logical for the programme to look into the maritime archaeological information that is available for the region. In this way, it was more or less a natural choice to take a remarkable ship-find that was discovered in Gredstedbro –only 15 km South of Esbjerg– as the subject for a student’s seminar in their second postgraduate semester. The present workbook is the result of that effort, in which the find itself, its discovery and interpretation, the presumed cultural background and the environment were addressed.
board.
As yet, little is known about the voyages this ship undertook in its lifetime or the events that led to its loss in the Thames Estuary, but its final journey, from excavation to its current and hopefully last resting place, was certainly long and adventurous. Between 2004 and 2012 the wreck travelled from the Port of London Authority docks in Gravesend to Horsea Lake in Portsmouth and later to the Stoney Cove National Diving Centre in Leicestershire.
This journey is also reflected in the long and just as adventurous process of analysis and finally publication. The current volume is the result of a series of field schools and surveys, university courses and student projects as well as specialist analyses, involving students, staff and researchers from a wide range of institutions, including the University of Southern Denmark and University College London.
This volume describes the discovery, and the sequence and methodology of the archaeological interventions, as well as the wreck and related armament. Some aspects, such as reconstruction and hull design, as well as a
comparative analysis of the ship and its construction, are dealt with extensively, while others, such as archival research into the history and loss of the ship still remain to be considered and offer potential for future research.
More specifically, its contents expand on and illustrate the thirty-six Rules concerning activities directed at Underwater Cultural Heritage presented in the Annex to the Convention, and fully endorsed by the members of the Convention’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Body in May 2011."
The boat was found at 2,89 m below sea level in land that had been reclaimed in the 1940’s. It lies at the margin between the sandy Pleistocene soils of the eastern Netherlands and the Holocene West of the country. For a considerable period the site must have been covered in peat that had eroded away on the development of the Zuiderzee. The site itself lies in fluviatile sediments, partly composed of reworked cover sands that cut into the Saalian till subsoil. The sediments probably represent a small estuary at the western border of the till plateau (Drenthe plateau).
Although the boat might have been associated with a settlement in the close vicinity, it is more likely that it washed downstream in a flooding event.
The boat was salvaged in a block-lift. For this an iron frame was put around the object and dug in so deeply as to allow for a steel plate to be pushed through the underlying sediments.
The boat features a central rib and three square holes in the bottom. Two small elevations, on each side of the centre line have been left in the solid. They are not more than 1,5 – 2 cm high and have a steep front. The outer side of the boat has been worked very smoothly. The inside features regular adze marks. The logboat dates from the Iron Age, but it is hard to be more precise. A treering series could be measured, but not matched. The C-14 date has a relatively low resolution.
The closest parallel for the boat was found in 1888, less than 15 km upstream. It is the Kolderveen logboat, which is kept in the National museum of Antiquities in Leiden (Maarleveld 2008). Its dating is equally problematic.
Documentation of the boat before and after conservation reveals significant loss of form. The boat straightened and flattened. The drawing on page 26 shows the present condition in red. The drawing on page 27 shows the measurement before conservation in black. As these measurements were taken with total station in a cramped space, there is some inference in the bottom part. Cell collapse has, however, been substantial. The present form suggests an angled cross-section, whereas originally the cross-section had been rounded.
In its first surveys, it is quite logical for the programme to look into the maritime archaeological information that is available for the region. In this way, it was more or less a natural choice to take a remarkable ship-find that was discovered in Gredstedbro –only 15 km South of Esbjerg– as the subject for a student’s seminar in their second postgraduate semester. The present workbook is the result of that effort, in which the find itself, its discovery and interpretation, the presumed cultural background and the environment were addressed.
What matters in underwater archaeology is the thinking, not the sinking. In: Ford, B., Halligan, J., & Catsambis, A. (in press). Our Blue Planet: An Introduction to Maritime and Underwater Archaeology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp.364-365.
Mitigation of seabed works under the Convention, a chance for the development
of archaeology. UNESCO Regional Meeting on Underwater Cultural Heritage, National Museum, Copenhagen, 8 June 2016.
Underwater Sites in Archaeological Conservation and Preservation. In: Smith C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_522-2
International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH). In: Smith C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_550-2
Archaeological use of Synthetic Aperture Sonar on deepwater wreck sites in Skagerrak. Journal of Archaeological Science 89 (2018) 1-13.
Marine archaeological surveying in deep waters has so far been challenging, mainly due to operational
and technological constraints. The standard tool has been Side Scan Sonar (SSS) towed behind a surface
vessel. Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) technology is not subject to the traditional range/resolution tradeoff,
and produces results of considerably higher quality than traditional SSS. In 2015 and 2016 a
comprehensive mapping of wrecks in Skagerrak, a large deepwater area off the south coast of Norway
was undertaken, using an interferometric SAS system deployed on an autonomous underwater vehicle.
By examining data from two passes of one of the many historical wrecks that were detected in the survey
area, we demonstrate how SAS can be used to produce very high resolution imagery and bathymetry of
wreck sites. Furthermore, post processing techniques are applied to exploit the high information content
inherent in SAS data, enhancing aspects of the data for relevant archaeological analysis and interpretation.
We show in this paper how SAS technology represents significant improvements in our abilities to
conduct high quality and high resolution seabed mapping. The adoption of this technology will both
benefit archaeological research and provide knowledge for better decision making in underwater cultural
heritage management.
The Aanloop Molengat site (Wadden Sea, the Netherlands) and Europe anno 1635.The historical interpretation of a strategic cargo. In: Jerzy Gawronski, André van Holk & Joost Schokkenbroek (eds.), Ships And Maritime Landscapes. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Amsterdam 2012, Eelde: Barkhuis, pp. 113-119.
Autonomy in Marine Archaeology. In: Stefano Campana, Roberto Scopigno, Gabriella Carpentiero & Marianna Cirillo (eds.), CAA2015 Keep the Revolution Going. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 857-865.
Harvesting the Sea, Protecting its Heritage: a Global Value, a Global Concern.
In: Maurizio Di Stefano (ed.), Heritage and Landscape as Human Values. Napoli:Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane – ESI.(ISBN 9788849530582), pp. 340-345.
Maritime Archaeology in the Netherlands — with a comparision to Sweden. Nordic Underwater Archaeology. 15pp. Published online at www.abc.se.
The relative success of the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export
and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention has encouraged the antiquities
market — and especially the big auction houses — to look for new sources for antiquities in bulk. Shipwrecks
provide these from their shiploads. Due to the complexities of international law, underwater operations feeding
the market had no legal restrictions until early 2009 when the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of
the Underwater Cultural Heritage entered into force. It is now ratified by 49 countries, and needs to gain more
appreciation and support.
In the meantime, African waters have become a major target for large-scale treasure-hunting. This stealing
and appropriation of heritage follows the logic of 18th and 19th century imperialism without consideration of the
role of heritage in the 21st century. Operators sweet-talk governments into providing exclusive rights and museums
into opportunistic acquisitions.
The urgent situation in Africa is presented here with a variety of examples, including the wholesale destruction
of sites in order to promote a lifestyle clothing line in Europe. These provide the background showing the need
to include the maritime spheres in developing policies for management of cultural heritage in Africa.
Scheurrak SO1 Project. Opgraving en onderzoek van het scheepswrak van een laat-zestiende eeuwse Nederlandse koopvaarder, geladen met Baltisch graan. (DOI: 10.17026/dans-zm3-nkk4) (URN: urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-z7og-v8).