Marine archaeology studies underwater artifacts and landscapes, including shipwrecks and prehistoric campsites. Preservation of artifacts is rare, but some well-preserved shipwrecks, such as the Uluburun Shipwreck, have been found. The discovery of Caligula’s Giant Ship symbolizes the hedonism of Roman emperors. The association of marine archaeology with the discovery of Atlantis is highly speculative.
Marine archaeology, also known as maritime archaeology, is the study of underwater artifacts and landscapes. Often this means studying shipwrecks, although other interesting underwater archaeological features have also been revealed, such as the remains of prehistoric camp sites in the North Sea, or debris left behind when an earthquake liquefies the earth beneath a port city, such as Port Royal in the Antilles. . Usually, underwater artifacts decay rapidly, but in some cases, even as few as one in several hundred, the preservation is remarkable and artifacts that would have decayed or been looted long ago if on land still remain. A famous example is the wreck of the Mary Rose, a Tudor-era warship that sank in a battle with the French in 1545.
Some of the most fascinating archaeological evidence from the ancient world comes from very old shipwrecks with preserved materials. The oldest shipwrecks to be investigated in marine archeology date back to the Bronze Age, with some ships and canoes dating back to 1400 BC or earlier. One of the most famous is the Uluburun Shipwreck, a well-preserved wreck off the southern coast of Turkey with a large cargo. The cargo included elephant ivory, hippopotamus ivory, copper ingots, tin ingots, raw glass, Egyptian ebony, gold, ostrich eggs, terebinth resin, ivory vases, a golden goblet, various jugs, lamps and vessels, an Italian sword, European spears, a ceremonial stone ax and more. Such large finds of intact material are very rare in above-surface archaeology, the discovery of the tombs of the pharaohs being one of the earliest and only examples.
The next major class of massive shipwrecks in marine archeology are those of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of Greece and Rome. Roman emperor Caligula’s huge pleasure barges have been discovered in Italy’s Lake Nemi, where fresh water lends itself to better preservation of wood and artifacts. One of these barges (fragmentary) was 104 m (341 ft) long, the third largest wooden vessel ever built, with a larger vessel not built until about 1,800 years later. Called “Caligula’s Giant Ship,” it was six decks high and could hold over 1,000 people. Caligula’s giant ship has come to symbolize the hedonism and selfishness of Caligula and other Roman emperors such as Nero.
A frequent and highly speculative association of marine archeology in the public mind is with the possible discovery of Atlantis. Although Atlantis was clearly a literary device invented by Plato to describe his ideal society, for thousands of years many people have been led to think that it actually existed, which has prompted extensive underwater investigations. Some of these investigations have actually unearthed some interesting artifacts, but in each case they have been associated with known cultures of the ancient world, never a completely new and unknown culture.
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