This chapter considers the application of underwater photogrammetry to record and document the underwater cultural heritage at the site of Anfeh in North Lebanon. Although photogrammetry has become a standard procedure in the field of maritime archaeology worldwide, this is the first use of this recording method in the country. The research context is presented, followed by the methodology adopted according to the particularities of the site and then the results of work undertaken over two campaigns: one in 2016 and one in 2017. The main aims in this chapter are to demonstrate the advantages of a low-cost and time-effective method of documenting sites, where the funding prohibits the use of more expensive geophysical equipment. The application of multi-image photogrammetry as a recording technique at Anfeh has merit in providing global access to artefacts in their in situ context. The results generated from 3D data were particularly informative to the study of a substantial collection of anchors of different types and sizes, without removing them from their underwater context. By calculating volume from the 3D scan, an estimation of the weight of these could be thus achieved and will serve in future analysis of the vessels plying the maritime routes at Anfeh.
KeywordsUnderwater archaeology · Maritime material culture ·
People create narratives of their maritime past through the remembering and forgetting of seafaring experiences, and through the retention and disposal of maritime artefacts that function mnemonically to evoke or suppress those experiences. The sustenance and reproduction of the resulting narratives depends further on effective media of intergenerational transmission; otherwise, they are lost. Rapid socio-economic transformation across Saudi Arabia in the age of oil has disrupted longstanding seafaring economies in the Red Sea archipelago of the Farasan Islands, and the nearby mainland port of Jizan. Vestiges of wooden boatbuilding activity are few; long-distance dhow trade with South Asia, the Arabian-Persian Gulf and East Africa has ceased; and a once substantial pearling and nacre (mother of pearl) collection industry has dwindled to a tiny group of hobbyists: no youth dive today. This widespread withdrawal from seafaring activity among many people in these formerly maritime-oriented communities has diminished the salience of such activity in cultural memory, and has set in motion narrative creation processes, through which memories are filtered and selected, and objects preserved, discarded, or lost. This paper is a product of the encounter of the authors with keepers of maritime memories and objects in the Farasan Islands and Jizan. An older generation of men recall memories of their experiences as boat builders, captains, seafarers, pearl divers and fishermen. Their recounted memories are inscribed, and Arabic seafaring terms recorded. The extent of the retention of maritime material cultural items as memorials is also assessed, and the rôle of individual, communal and state actors in that retention is considered. Through this reflection, it becomes clear that the extra-biological memory and archive of the region's maritime past is sparse; that intergenerational transmission is failing; that the participation
European travelers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries only briefly mention harbor remains at famous archaeological sites such as Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre. By the mid-nineteenth century, harbors attracted a more focused interest mainly by French scholars. Jesuit Father Antoine Poidebard initiated the discipline of underwater archaeology, while successfully applying the technique of aerial photography to his study of ancient harbors. The advent of the aqualung in 1943 brought a new sense of professionalism to the field with pioneers embodying both trades: diving and archaeology. This article explores the theoretical and contextual development of maritime archaeology in Lebanon and looks at the main actors who brought the field forward.
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