The taphonomy of historic shipwreck sites
An understanding of the extent to which materials and energy are free to exchange across boundaries at shipwreck sites is fundamental to the archaeological interpretation of these unique resources. The limited previous work on the dynamics of shipwreck sites suggest that they can act as either near-closed systems (e.g. Mary Rose), or open systems at some state of dynamic/quasi- equilibrium with respect to their surroundingsâ (e.g. Stirling Castle). Nonetheless, our understanding of the temporal evolution of shipwreck sites and thus, whether they are open or closed systems, is extremely limited. This thesis presents repeat (intra-annual; annual; and decadal) Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) surveys for five shipwreck sites (the largest published collection of shipwreck site MBES time-series to date) from a range of environments: the Richard Montgomery, tidally dominated (weakly asymmetrical); the Scylla, storm dominated; the Burgzand Noord site, tidally dominated (strongly asymmetrical); the Stirling Castle, dominated by large-scale geomorphological processes; and the Algerian, sheltered. By quantifying the temporal variability (through bed-level change plots) and the Metocean, geological and geomorphological
Astley, Amelia
The taphonomy of historic shipwreck sites. An understanding of the extent to which materials and energy are free to exchange across boundaries at shipwreck sites is fundamental to the archaeological interpretation of these unique resources. The limited previous work on the dynamics of shipwreck sites suggest that they can act as either near-closed systems (e.g. Mary Rose), or open systems at some state of dynamic/quasi- equilibrium with respect to their surroundingsâ (e.g. Stirling Castle). Nonetheless, our understanding of the temporal evolution of shipwreck sites and thus, whether they are open or closed systems, is extremely limited. This thesis presents repeat (intra-annual; annual; and decadal) Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) surveys for five shipwreck sites (the largest published collection of shipwreck site MBES time-series to date) from a range of environments: the Richard Montgomery, tidally dominated (weakly asymmetrical); the Scylla, storm dominated; the Burgzand Noord site, tidally dominated (strongly asymmetrical); the Stirling Castle, dominated by large-scale geomorphological processes; and the Algerian, sheltered. By quantifying the temporal variability (through bed-level change plots) and the Metocean, geological and geomorphological
taphonomy historic shipwreck site extent material energy free exchange across_boundary shipwreck site fundamental archaeological_interpretation unique resource limited previous_work dynamic shipwreck site suggest act either near closed system mary open system state dynamic quasi equilibrium respect surroundings castle nonetheless temporal evolution shipwreck sit thus whether open close system extremely limited present repeat intra annual annual survey shipwreck site large publish collection shipwreck site time_series date_range environment dominate asymmetrical storm dominate site dominate strongly asymmetrical castle dominate large_scale geomorphological process algerian shelter quantify temporal variability bed level change plot geological geomorphological