\JOL 6 NO 2 INANEWSLETTER

Summer 1979 LA MEDIA LUNA

low. He lifted his head and removed his snorkel: "They found the first one!" he shouted. The first team of student divers had done their job well, spotting a solitary sherd of pottery protruding from the lake bed. We suggested that the second team, armed with stakes, strings and meter tapes , grid the area for photography be­ fore beginning the excavation. We left them to decide their methods, and then took turns either snorkeling above them, to observe their work and call out com­ ments, or remaining on shore to record these comments for a later critique. The newly trained divers made mis­ takes. It was difficult for them to keep their bodies and fins off the soft bottom which was covered by a thick layer of light, floc­ culent sediment. Often they were hidden from us and from one another in dark clouds of sediment before the barely dis­ cernible current carried it away. Before the day was over, however, the Co-author Don Keith views Media Luna. students had uncovered a two-meter­ Photo: G. F. Bass . square area of pottery and were begin­ On January 3, George Bass and figurines placed in the lake, often inside ning to label each fragment with a num­ Donald Keith of INA flew to Mexico City to pottery vessels. bered plastic tag . The excavation, we felt, conduct a three-and-a-half week course These offerings had not brought us to would be a success if they continued to in underwater archaeological field meth­ the lake. Our three-day visit was only a improve with each dive on the site. ods at the invitation of the Grupo de part of the training course we offered. The site was by no means ordinary. We Buceo Archaeologico de Ia E.N.A.H.- the Every evening in Mexico City, before and knew its exact age in advance: it could be archaeological diving group of the Na­ after the trip, we gave two-hour lectures, measured in hours. tional School of Anthropology and His­ with simultaneous translations from During the long drive from Mexico City tory. Here they provide an account of English to Spanish by various members their experiences. of the class. We discussed the history and Clouds of steam drifted over the lake, theory of nautical archaeology, the history almost obscuring the reeds on its oppo­ and principles of wooden hull construc­ site bank and the mountains rising at a tion, and techniques of underwater survey distance on all sides. The sound of bub­ and excavation, often illustrating specific bles popping on the surface was con­ points with slides and plans of our own stant. The water, fed from five thermal past projects. springs, was far warmer than the chill Now it was time for the students to morning air. apply the theories to an actual field Small wonder that prehistoric people project. held the Lake of the Half Moon (Ia Media Diving instructor Rafael Alducin was Luna) in awe. Their respect is known to comfortable in only a bathing suit as he us today by thousands of terra-cotta swam over a survey team thirty feet be- E. N. A. H. north to the lake, in the state of San Luis Potosi, we had discussed the training exercise with group leader Pilar Luna, who first had contacted INA about giving the course. The three of us had decided that we had no right, without proper per­ mits and conservation facilities, to touch a single ancient artifact - despite the fact that amateur divers and even misguided archaeologists had raised thousands of figurines from the lake over the years. No plan exists of the original positions of those figurines, a plan that might have al­ lowed scholars to date changes in the level of the lake or shifting patterns of an­ cient inhabitants. Instead of causing further disturbance, we decided, we would make our own site. On the first morning of the "excava­ tion," we had remained in the little farm­ ing village of Rio Verde, where several of us had taken hotel rooms, to search the market for our "artifacts": an assortment . ~ of cheap, modern, glazed ceramic ves­ G. F. Bass critiques the group at Media Luna . sels. Then we jounced over a horren­ Photo: 0. H. Keith. dously pot-holed road to Media Luna, the spring dropped away abruptly, form­ air in a scuba cylinder, so Jorge drove where most of the group had camped. ing a series of depressions which were its back to Rio Verde with Maria Jesus Rod­ We arrived to find the others finishing mouths, the deepest being about 125 riquez and rented a fifteen-foot length of breakfast and making preparations to feet. Strangely, the temperature seemed three-and-a-half inch diameter plastic irri­ dive. With the assistance of Rafael and to increase slightly with depth. The gation pipe. We disassembled a regu­ Jorge Rivera, a student from Honduras periphery of the laguna was lined with the lator, removing the second stage and studying in Mexico, we assembled our stumps and trunks of enormous cypress mouthpiece so the hose could be inserted equipment on the edge of the laguna and trees, the roots of which were embedded into the bottom of the pipe, and the air began our special preparations. in the sides of the spring at a level about flow regulated by turning the tank valve. We broke the modern pottery into fifteen feet below the present surface. This simple expedient worked surprisingly sherds, carefully recording the exact They had once stood at the edge of the well, resulting in a highly portable airlift number of pieces to be sure that none spring and drunk its waters, until the level which could be used anywhere in the remained in the lake following our "exca­ rose at some unknown time in the past to laguna, often running for forty minutes on vation" to confuse future archaeologists. drown them. a single tank of air. More importantly, the Then we placed the sherds into mesh We sank to a sill between two mouths students had learned one of the most im­ bags and entered the water. of the spring and began to scatter and portant lessons of any field operation - Our teaching plan was simple: we cover the sherds of three vessels over a the necessity for improvisation. would locate two areas no deeper than small area on the bottom. We placed the During the three-day exercise, the two thirty feet and "salt" them with the last sherd so that one corner stood out to sites were labeled and photographed with modern pottery. The rest of the group, mark the "site." In another area, we re­ care; Juan Antonio Siller used his ar­ waiting out of sight of the laguna until we peated the process. We had dived on chitectural training to draw the site plans were finished, would then conduct a sur­ many sites, but this was the first time under water. Although the artifacts were vey to locate the sites. Next they would either of us had carried artifacts down into not heavy, we insisted that the students excavate them, record the relative posi­ the water. bring them to the surface with air-filled lift tions of the artifacts, and finally raise Back on shore at the staging area, we bags for the experience. Gabriela Zepeda them. presented the group with the problem and kept a dive-log, Elsa Hernandez Pons a Our first dive in the Media Luna was full stood by while they decided on their plan field notebook, and others kept object of surprises. The water is geothermally of action. catalogues as carefully as if they were heated and practically as clear as the air On the second day at the Lake of the recording a true archaeological site. above. Small fish of unfamiliar species Half Moon, as part of their practical field On the last day, we all had the chance darted through patches of water lilies experience, we wanted to give the stu­ for a new experiment. The steep and soft growing up to the surface from the shal­ dents a feel for the use and theory of the sides of the laguna slid downward into lows. At the surface, the water was almost airlift. Unfortunately, funds had not been trenches dug by the airlift, preventing ex­ body-temperature and completely unpol­ budgeted for the expensive but necessary cavation deeper than about 18 inches. luted - an excellent place for practice low-pressure compressor, hose and lift We suspected that the sediments on the work. pipe. bottom of the laguna were stratified, but As we descended, Pilar and Rafael We wondered if they might be able to this could not be detected until the sides watched us from above. The bottom of power a small airlift from the compressed (Continued on p. 7) 2 SYMPOSIUM ON SERCE LIMAN AND MARMORICE ANCIENT TRADE With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Dr. ralty had sent a wreckmaster and three Edwin Doran Jr. recently brought to our Sinhalese divers from Southeast India The Philadelphia Society of the Ar­ attention the following sidelight on the aboard Hornblower's ship to make the chaeological Institute of America and the INA work at Serqe Uman. salvage attempt. University Museum, University of As the INA group began excavations at Although the details of the successful Pennsylvania announce a symposium on Sers;e Liman in 1977 they (and readers of effort to bring up five tons of silver and Trade in the Mediterranean in the 5th cen­ this newsletter) may have been unaware gold make exciting reading the excava­ tury A.D. The symposium will be held on that a famous naval officer preceded tion technique was a bit primitive. A keg Saturday, October 13, 1979, at the Uni­ them by 171 years with a somewhat simi­ packed with thirty pounds of gunpowder versity Museum. lar "excavation" in nearby waters. In was exploded to blow a hole in the ship's Speakers at the symposium will be March of 1806 Captain Horatio side, and Hornblower had " .. . a mental John Boardman, Ashmolean Museum, Hornblower entered the Bay of Marmorice picture of the wreck down there in the Oxford; Lionel Casson, New York Univer­ (now Marmaris), only 25 miles northeast translucent water, with her strongroom sity; G. Kenneth Sams, University of of Sers;e Liman, in his ship Atropos and torn open and the silver in a frozen stream North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Homer A. anchored near the wreck of the Speed­ pouring out of it. " By standards of the day Thompson, Institute for Advanced Study, well, a former British transport. 1 Five the excavation was an eminent success, Princeton; Margaret Thompson, Ameri­ years before, laden with a quarter of a as was Hornblower's feat of seamanship can Numismatic Society; and Peter S. million pounds sterling in gold and silver in sailing the treasure-laden Atropos out Welles, Peabody Museum of Archaeol­ for payment and subsistence of the British of the bay under the fire of two Turkish ogy and Ethnology. fleet en route to the Nile, the latter had forts. For additional information, interested capsized and sunk at anchor in a gale. persons should write to Cynthia J. Eise­

She lay in 17 fathoms, far below any ' Forester. C. S., (1953) Hornblower and the At­ man, University Museum, 33rd and British capability for diving, but the Admi- ·ropos . New York: Pinnacle Books. Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104. PROFILE

first archaeological effort in the Carib- fleets and to work on the excavation of a bean, a survey of the coastal cultural re- Paleo-Indian site at Warm Mineral sources of the Cayman Islands. While the Springs. project will form the basis of his master's In the spring and fall of 1978, Smith thesis research, its primary value, he joined fellow nautical archaeology stu­ says, is in bringing scholarly concern and dents on the survey of a side-wheel methodology to the nautical archaeology steamboat that sank in the late 1800's in of this part of the world. the Trinity River near Liberty, Texas. Dur- " New World shipwreck archaeology ing summer months, he worked with has been dogged in the past by the repu- David Switzer in Maine as a member of tation and actions of treasure hunters," the Defence field school, and spent Smith notes. " Not only have these people January and February 1979 in Mombasa, Roger Smith. damaged sites, but they also have influ- Kenya, working with Robin Piercy on his In 1971 when Roger Smith, then a enced popular opinion about the nature late 17th century Portuguese site. He was senior at the University of Virginia, drove and necessity of underwater archaeology. named an INA research associate in the from Charlottesville to Philaldelphia to I hope this projllct will begin to reverse spring. ask George Bass about a future in these trends in the Caribbean." Born in Utah and raised primarily underwater archaeology, he was not During the June to September project abroad, Smith says his experience with encouraged at all by the latter's answers. season, Smith's crew of eight will use a foreign cultures initially piqued his interest The academic regime, Bass hinted, was magnetometer, radar positioning system, in history, art and archaeology. A com­ long, sober and scholarly, and there were photographic and cartographic equip- mercia! diving course and his enjoyment few opportunities to learn and apply skills ment, two support vessels and diver in- of the ocean helped to channel his direc­ and knowledge, outdoors, on a site. spection of the seabed in their efforts to tion into underwater archaeology. These prospects were not a deterrent, inventory the shipwreck sites of the Smith describes himself as both a and Smith spent the next seven years Caymans. bookworm and an outdoorsman who can readying himself for a career in the field. Smith's field experience was garnered be away from either pleasure for only a When he enrolled at Texas A&M Univer­ during employment with several ar- short while. sity in January 1978 in the graduate naut­ chaeology oriented groups in Florida, in- "For me, this field has all the elements ical archaeology specialization, he al­ eluding the state's Underwater Ar- of intellectual and physical pursuit com­ ready had developed, through experience chaeological Research Section, where he bined into one. It is an academic synthe­ and personal study, a reasonable knowl­ worked as a field agent for two years be- sis that allows me to work at reconstruct­ edge and a vigorous curiosity about New fore coming to Texas A&M. The latter po- ing one part of human history while at the World maritime history. sition gave him the opportunity to survey same time be outdoors and experience This summer, Smith is directing INA's the wrecks of the 1715 and 1733 Spanish nature on and under the ocean." 3 BOOK REVIEW ware ("La Ceramique Commune") listed building; ( 4) the belief that shell-first gave L' Epave romaine de Ia Madrague de Giens (Var) in Chapter VI, only one is described in way gradually to frame-first, and that this (Campagnes 1972-1975). By A. Tchernia, P. Pomey, detail, open forms in red biscuit, as it is the change took place some time around the A. Hesnard et a/. Gallia Supplement XXXIV. Editions most numerous. This pottery is best end of the Roman empire must be du Centre National de Ia Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1978. Pp . 122, 16 Figs., 41 Pl. 85 F. known from Gaul, and is so ordinary that it scrutinized anew. In the twenty years or so since French has generally been considered a local The Giens shipwreck publication offers divers, under the direction of Fernand ware. Its presence in the cargo of a mer­ scholars a rare opportunity. In it we are Benoit and Jacques Cousteau, examined chantman sailing from Italy indicates that presented preliminary reports on a wide remains of a shipwreck at Grand Con­ such was not the case, and we are prom­ variety of subjects: Roman wine, Latin gloue, French archaeologists now ised a detailed study of the problems and epigraphy and prosopography, Campa­ routinely do the work of excavation them­ implications of the phenomenon at some nian pottery, wooden ship construction, selves, rather than merely supervising di­ future time. and maritime trade. The studies, while vers from the surface. Chapter VII is devoted to miscellane­ more comprehensive than those gener­ The Roman wreck at Ia Madrague de ous objects, including three lead ingots of ally appearing in preliminary reports, fall Giens is one of several large amphora Spanish origin; the oldest bronze short of what is expected in a final publi­ carriers on the French coast that have counter-balance of the Roman world; and cation . The temptation to criticize - or at been excavated in recent years . During a solid lead amphoriskos of uncertain least lament -the shortcomings is great. four campaigns , nine and one-half function. Yet are we not better informed than if we months were devoted to excavation of the Chapter VIII deals with the hull itself, had to wait ten or fifteen years for the wreck marked by an amphora mound incredibly well preserved under its load of project's completion? And might we not some 35m. long and 10 to 13m. wide and amphoras and layers of sand and eel do ourselves a favor if, instead, we use four months to removal of eel grass and to grass, and admirably illustrated in numer­ the opportunity to convey to M. Tchernia opening and closing the site annually. Yet ous in situ photographs and drawings. and his colleagues the information which it is estimated that only one-fourth to Elements of the hull discussed in some we would like to see in the final publica­ one-fifth of the total wreck has been ex­ detail include the keel , two sets of strakes tion? Let me cite two examples. I would amined , work having been concentrated (inner and outer) , frames, mortise-and­ like to see isotope analyses conducted on in a trench 7 m. wide at the midships sec­ tenon joints, keelson, mast step, ceiling all lead and silver items which the wreck tion. A remarkable amount of information planks, stanchions, lead sheathing, and produces. If such tests are routinely per­ has been gleaned from this effort, which caulking. Observations were made of formed -and to my knowledge they have is presented in an attractive and well wood in situ , the mast step and some ceil­ not been done by French archaeologists illustrated volume worthy of a final publi­ ing planks were removed (and later re­ in the past - it will not be long before cation, although the authors emphasize at placed), and a tunnel was run under the scholars know much more about lead and the outset that the publication is neither hull to permit observation of its external silver mine exploitation and trade in an­ exhaustive nor definitive. face. In addition, a square meter of the tiquity. The Introduction locates the wreck, de­ ship's bottom was raised, including keel, Secondly, it is true that excavation scribes its formation on the sea bed, and strakes, and frames . A good deal of methodology has progressed to a point expressly avoids discussing excavation space is devoted to a description of the where it need not dominate a site report. techniques, on the grounds that hypothetical procedure by which the hull Nevertheless, some discussion of tech­ methodology has progressed sufficiently was constructed. It is suggested that the niques is necessary to clarify some that it no longer needs to occupy a major inner hull strakes and frames were as­ points. For example, the tunnelling pro­ place in publications. sembled in five steps which alternate the cedure mentioned as a means of studying Chapter I is a quick review of the ship's frame-first and shell-first procedures. If details of the hull's construction is unique fundamentals: the cargo (wine amphoras we accept this hypothesis, the Giens ship in the short history of ship archaeology in and Campanian pottery) , the ship's origin would thus be the earliest example by the Mediterranean and deserves a de­ (S . Italy) and her wrecking date (ca . 75-30 some three centuries of this construction tailed account. Since the technique was B.C., with a preference for 60-50 B.C.). method. Moreover, it is noted that other vital to understanding the hull construc­ Chapter II offers a description of how the vessels built by the mixed technique pro­ tion method, and since the authors pres­ cargo amphoras and pottery were stowed ceeded in different ways than the Giens ent us with a new construction technique, in the hold . Chapter Ill suggests that in ship. their theory might find firmer footing if the antiquity free divers worked the wreck to On the basis of the Giens evidence, we reader has a clearer understanding of recover part of the cargo. Chapter IV is a are asked to re-examine some of our how their evidence was acquired. description of the Dressel I amphoras long-held notions about traditional The excavation of the Giens shipwreck which comprise the major portion of the Mediterranean ship construction: (1) and the publication of this report are cargo. Included are detailed studies of the mortise-and-tenon joints alone do not exemplary. The studies in the report will shape variations, the stamps, graffiti, the necessarily indicate shell-first construc­ be of great use not only to other ship ar­ names therein, the social position of free tion; (2) frame-first construction was not chaeologists but to any scholar con­ men and slaves and their relative entirely unknown in antiquity; (3) the ear­ cerned with Roman history. Unfortu­ functions in the amphora- and wine­ liest archaeological evidence for active nately, prejudice against "underwater ar­ producing industries of Republican Italy. frames goes back at least to the first cen­ chaeology" is still, in some circles, so Chapter V concerns the smaller tury B.C., and can be regarded not simply very great that this publication might not amount of cargo in the form of Campa­ as a transition between shell-first and receive the attention it deserves. Yet nian Band C pottery, and follows Lambog­ frame-first construction methods, but scholars cannot afford to ignore it. lia's typologies. Of four types of common rather as evidence of genuine frame-first - Cynthia Jones Eiseman

4 THE GRAVISCA PORT SURVEY

Lisa Shuey (Serge Liman 1977-78), and determining the form and dating of now a Doctoral candidate at the Univer­ the underwater remains, the objectives of sity of California at Santa Barbara, was a the survey were: to examine and define member of the first graduating class in the presumed area of the ancient break­ Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M Uni­ water; to map the underwater remains; versity. In the following article Ms. Shuey and then to excavate test trenches to help describes her Master's thesis work at the determine the type of breakwater con­ ancient harbor of Gravisca. struction and overall design of the harbor. The first extensive survey and excava­ Aerial photographs of the site taken in tion of underwater remains at Gravisca, 197 4 were used in the initial stages of located 40 miles northwest of Rome, was planning to help determine the location of undertaken in the summer of 1977. underwater remains, which consisted Funded by a grant from Texas A&M Uni­ primarily of low, broad beds of Poseidonia versity and with additional support from weed, more commonly called Poseidon Survey area from bastion promontory. the American Academy in Rome and INA, grass, and scattered limestone rubble. A the project was carried out over a 6-week and 5th centuries B.C. and left little doubt series of points were surveyed around period by a team of 4 graduate students. that this was the trading station built to these areas by divers holding a range The name Gravisca was known from serve Tarquinia, located around 3V2 miles pole over numbered stakes as the points the ancient sources both as the port of the inland. were plotted in using shore-based theodo­ great Etruscan city Tarquinia and as a It was also known from the historical lites. Details of the underwater areas sur­ later Roman colony founded in 181 B.C .. record that Porto Clementino served as a rounding each point were then measured, However, nothing was known about the medieval and Papal port and that it was drawn, and photographed by the divers, location or design of the port, and its loca­ improved upon in various periods from and these data were later incorporated tion in particular has long been disputed the 15th to 18th centuries. No descrip­ into the final plan. by scholars. No less than four different tions of these improvements were given Partial examination of the underwater locations have, in fact, been proposed for in the sources, in fact, the only evidence remains was carried out by excavation the port since the 1830's, but none of of earlier port installations visible today with a shallow-water airlift, a type of light­ these involved actual underwater inspec­ are the ruins of a medieval bastion lo­ weight suction dredge. A series of 9 tion of the sites in question. cated on the promontory. But one 16th­ trenches were excavated to depths up to Recent land excavations by Professor century report did refer to a breakwater at 1.5 meters, both beside and on top of the Mario Torelli focused considerable atten­ the port, and it was logical to hypothesize rubble and grass mounds to examine tion on one possibility, Porto Clementino, that this structure might have been built their morphology, and between the now a popular coastal resort. These ex­ over the remains of earlier Etruscan or mounds to determine if rubble buried be­ cavations, in progress since 1969, un­ Roman installations. neath the sand may have connected them covered traces of the Roman colony As all these factors pointed to Porto in antiquity. Only a small quantity of scat­ known from ancient sources, as well as Clementino as a natural location for the tered stones was found between the evidence for earlier Etruscan occupation ancient port of Gravisca, a thorough mounds, suggesting that they were origi­ from the 6th to 3rd centuries B.C .. Large underwater investigation of the harbor nally constructed as separate rubble quantities of imported Greek pottery at­ was requested by Professor Torelli to mounds rather than as a solid breakwa­ tested to the importance of Gravisca as a confirm this hypothesis. With the hope of ter. center for overseas commerce in the 6th establishing the port's ancient identity The results of the mapping and excava-

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Radial mapping board with polar graph used to correlate underwater Survey team member swimming circular pattern using radial mapping ~~- ~Md 5 GRAVISCA PORT SURVEY 1977

~ LARGE RUBBLE

POSEIDON GRASS / SCATTERED RUBB LE

ml MEDIUM RUBBLE CONCENTRATIONS D SMALL RUBBLE D SAND LAND ABOVE SEA LEVEL

•~"o BASTION BLOCKS 0 25 50 100 STATIONS + METERS

Final plan of survey area. tion revealed a curious formation of amphora sherds, which were excavated was in fact the original installation in the underwater remains presently visible in in situ from underneath the sea grass harbor, the port's identity as ancient the area of the harbor believed to have growing over parts of the mound. Another Gravisca can no longer be doubted. But been the ancient breakwater. Low smaller mound of rubble was found di­ despite surface finds from the harbor floor mounds of sea grass and sparsely scat­ rectly off the promontory, and it is possi­ consisting of an Etruscan amphora tered rubble piles are spread over an area ble that other solid rubble mounds could handle and a 3rd-1st c. B.C. amphora around 300 meters in diameter, which have existed between these two in an­ base, the intriguing possibility that the does not immediately give one the im­ tiquity, although only scattered rubble and Etruscans built a breakwater at Gravisca pression of ancient harbor works. But the grass mounds are visible there today. before the Romans must remain fact that this harbor was heavily bombed This type of breakwater construction hypothetical; no periods were repre­ in World War II may be a partial explana­ consisting of large rocks simply dumped sented in our sherd sampling from the tion of the wide dispersal of remains, into a pile on the sea bed to form a single breakwater mound itself, prior to the 1st c. along with constant wave action working mound is also found at the nearby Roman A.D. away at the coastline over the centuries. ports of Pyrgi and Cosa, and appears to Further penetration into the rubble and Comparisons with other ancient ports have been a simple but effective method grass mounds and below the sandy har­ along the Italian coastline combined with used by the early Romans to break the bor floor than we were able to accomplish a study of the local currents did allow a force of the waves: The fact that the rub­ with limited excavation equipment might partial reconstruction and dating of the ble piles seem to have been constructed perhaps yield an earlier date for the har­ harbor works to be made. as separate units is also indicative of bor. As conclusive evidence for the de­ Part of a breakwater which appears to Early Roman design; the wave action sign and construction of any Etruscan date at leq_st as far back as the Roman could be kept to a minimum, but currents port is still highly sought by ar­ period was discovered circa 250 meters could pass freely between the rock bar­ chaeologists, Gravisca is certainly a site out from the natural harbor promontory in riers providing a natural means of cleans­ worthy of future explorations. the form of a large mound of a solid lime­ ing silt from the harbor. stone rubble. The top layers of this pile Although it was not possible to deter­ - L. B. Shuey. were comprised in some parts of Roman mine for certain whether this breakwater

6 Acapulco and the Philippines - the Ma­ nila Galleons. To understand better their construction features, he made a scale model of the first of these sh ips built in Mexico, the San Pedro, which now re­ sides in a museum in Spain. Senor Bracamontes refers to his three­ dimensional work as "miniature ship con ­ struction," rather than "model building," and the reason for this distinction was ob­ vious from the examples of his work we saw. Every piece was reproduced faith­ fully in miniature, and the assembled finished product gave every appearance of having been built by Lilliputians. Senor Bracamontes finished the eve­ ning by presenting each of us with gifts. Don was pleased to receive a facsimile copy of a Mexican treatise on navigation and ship construction originally published in 1587! Mexico's potential for underwater re­ Pilar Luna, leader of the group, returns from a dive . search is enormous: cenotes and springs Pharo : D. H. Keirh . associated with pre-Columbian civiliza­ tions, inundated prehistoric sites and (Continued from p . 2) shipwrecks on both the Caribbean and of the excavation were stabilized. The allowed us to get to know them better Pacific coasts exist in abundance. But as students discussed the problem and de­ than was possible in a crowded class­ in most countries, including our own , the cided on a plan of action: they would build room. Sometimes Pilar Luna introduced predations of amateur divers and profes­ a cofferdam around three sides of the ex­ us to divers who joined our evening re­ sional looters are taking their toll. This cavation on the steep submerged slope, past and shared their knowledge of was apparent even at Media Luna. Our and push the walls deeper into the bottom Mexico's shipwrecks and other under­ last day at the laguna an American ar­ as the excavation progressed. Hortensia water sites. rived in a plum-colored Volvo bearing de Vega, Gabriela and Elsa brought from A special treat for us was meeting Texas license plates. He watched quietly Rio Verde a sheet of corrugated asbestos Senor Jesus Bracamontes, a naval ar­ for a while as we worked, then told us we construction material cut into panels one chitect and ship historian who has made would never find anything where we were meter wide. Jesus Cuevas floated the the study of the maritime history of excavating. All the "goodies," he told us , panels out to the site and installed them Mexico his life's work. One evening was were farther along the northeast side of on the bottom, supporting them vertically particularly memorable. We had dinner the spring. He made no secret of the fact with iron rods. When the air lift was in­ with Senor Bracamontes, then accom­ that he had come to loot the spring and stalled and the excavation begun, the panied him to his apartment. His flat was had been here many times before. panels held back the loose sediment, like a museum inside, and it was impossi­ In Mexico, as elsewhere, prot.essional enabling the divers to excavate by strata. ble to absorb and appreciate the amazing archaeologists who are capable of evalu­ An important part of the exercise was to collection of objects and literature. Every ating, excavating, and publishing under­ impress upon the students that under­ object, every volume told a story. Here, water sites frequently are not able to se­ water archaeology is not divorced from was a figurine of an Aztec warrior, only six cure the support and funding necessary land archaeology. When not diving, keep­ inches tall, which Senor Bracamontes to undertake major projects. Week-end ing records, or filling scuba cylinders from had carved in minute, authentic detail; divers, meanwhile, pick away at known the camp compressor, they took turns there, a complete collection of antique, sites and discover new ones. We are mapping the shape of the laguna and leather-bound volumes on nautical af­ pleased that a younger generation of surveying the immediate environs in order fairs. archaeologists, represented by the Grupo to understand the relationships of the We stayed well into the wee hours, sip­ de Buceo, have demonstrated an ap­ laguna to its surrounding terrestrial fea­ ping Amaretto from tiny, stemmed glass­ preciation for their country's underwater tures. es while discussing the maritime history cultural resources, and have taken the in­ Most of our stay was spent in Mexico of Mexico and what the future might hold. itiative to improve their protection and City, delivering lectures at night. After We learned that Senor Bracamontes is management. each lecture we had dinner with three or particularly interested in the ships that -D. H. Keith four of the students, a limited number that were built in Mexico to trade between G. F. Bass.

The American Institute of Nautical Archaeology is a nonprofit scientific/educational organization whose purpose is to gather knowledge of man's past as left In the physical remains of his maritime activities and to disseminate this knowledge through scientific and popular publications, seminars, and lectures. The INA Newsletter is published periodically by INA and is distributed to its members and Supporting Institutions to inform them of INA's current activities. INA is an equal opportunity organization. 7 INSTITUTE OF NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

OFFICERS

George F. Bass, President Catherine Meyer, Secretary Michael L. Katzev, Vice-President James G. Hooton, Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John H. Baird, Chairman Ronnie Chamness Michael L. Katzev George F. Bass Claude Duthuit Jack W. Kelley Harry W. Bass, Jr. Cynthia J. Eiseman J. M. Lewallen Richard D. Bass Harrison Eitlejorg II, Vice-Chairman Jarvis E. Miller Fletcher A. Blanchard Sumner Gerard Melvin M. Payne Duncan Boeckman Nixon Griffis G. Kenneth Sams Alan L. Boegehold Simeon Hutner W. F. Searle, Jr. John C. Calhoun, Jr. Harry C. Kahn II Elizabeth Whitehead

STAFF AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATES ADJUNCT PROFESSORS

George F. Bass, Ph.D. Donald H. Keith, M.A. Karl Borgin, D.Sc. Carolyn Koehler, Ph .D. Donald A. Frey, Ph .D. Robin C. M. Piercy Carl J. Clausen, M.A. David I. Owen, Ph .D. John A. Gifford, Ph.D. Donald Rosencrantz Edwin Doran, Jr. , Ph.D. Joseph W. Shaw, Ph.D. Jeremy Green Roger C. Smith Henry B. Graham, Ph.D. David C. Switzer, Ph.D. D. L. Hamilton, Ph.D. J. Richard Steffy Michael L. Katzev, M.A. Tufan Turanli Frederick H. van Doorninck, Jr., Ph.D.

SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS

American University in Cairo Corning Museum of Glass University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Boston University Grupo de Buceo Arqueologico de Ia E.N.A.H., Mexico New York University, Institute of Fine Arts Brown University Kittery Historical and Naval Museum Stanford University Bryn Mawr College University of Maryland, Baltimore County Maine Maritime Academy University of California, Berkeley Massachusetts Institute of Technology Texas A&M Research Foundation University of Cincinnati University of New Hampshire Cornell University University Museum, University of Pennsylvania

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