Working on the Barrel Wreck
Students, heritage enthusiasts and professionals from South Africa, Canada, Australia, the UK and the Netherlands joined this year’s field school in Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) on Robben Island, guided by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) and the CIE. The project aims for the participants were to build their capacity in MUCH and to get certification from the Nautical Archaeological Society (NAS). Experts on conservation (Vicky Richards and Jon Carpenter of the Western Australia Museum), archival research (Menno Leenstra and GIS-software (Peter Holt, creator of Site Recorder) joined the field school to give lectures, advise and help with the practical work.
Both divers and none-divers participated this year. The last group investigated different subjects of the maritime landscape on Robben Island and the Table Bay area, as can be read in the blog entries below. The diving group continued work from the 2010 and 2011 field schools: which was to investigate a unknown wreck in the Table Bay; previously named the Barrel Wreck. We used GIS software to set up a full three-dimensional measuring system. This system was then used to map for instance finds, locations for samples and detail drawings from different parts of the wreck.
The first days we stayed in Cape Town for introductory lectures on MUCH, practical work with setting up measuring systems and a tour through Cape Town on its history. After this, everyone moved to Robben Island to stay in the former common law prison, which has been transformed into a learning center and can house large groups of people. Our next two weeks we would stay on the island, dive during the morning and follow lectures from the different experts in the late afternoons and evenings. It would become two intense, but very fun, weeks.
Despite the beautiful Cape Town summer weather above water, conditions below sea level weren’t so good. Poor visibility and huge swells made it impossible to dive at our prime location. So unfortunately the first week we couldn’t dive at the Barrel Wreck. Instead we moved to another wreck site to practice our underwater archaeological skills, the so-called Cannon Wreck. This site was presumed to be the place where an 18th century Swedish Ship sank, and was named after the seven cannons that have been found there. This location proved to be ideal for practicing underwater sketching and setting up a measuring system. And as an addition, almost every day we would be greeted by seals and dolphins. For me, this first week was not only great to refresh my MUCH knowledge and underwater a rchaeological skills, but also to meet up with both new and previous team members.
After a week the conditions changed, so we could test our new (or revived) skills on the Barrel Wreck. For the new participants it was their first dive on the 40 meter long wooden shipwreck, with some cannons, a lot of cargo and large parts of the construction left. Altogether a much more difficult site then the Cannon Wreck, but therefore also much more interesting. For the returning participants it was nice to find out how much the site changed after a year. It proved that a greater area of the wreck was covered in sand, but still a large part was visible. So there was enough for everyone to discover and to work with.
With the help of Peter Holt we managed to set up a complete three-dimensional measuring system. It took us a couple of days to complete this, but later on all this work proved to pay itself, since we were able to map the entire site within 30 mm accuracy. Despite the improved conditions, things were not ideal: the visibility became poorer whilst the swell rose. This made our results even more impressive, and showed that the team was functioning perfect.
Besides all this measuring, Vicky Richards and Jon Carpenter gave us very interesting lectures on different parts of conservation of MUCH: from in-situ conservation to first aid for finds. And under the supervision of our two conservation experts, we even got the chance to do a small on-site conservation survey on the Barrel Wreck. Of all the different devices we had to use under water, for some reason the underwater drill (used for the removal of concretion) was the most popular.
A visit to Iziko’s conservation lab with Vicky and Jon, where we could do some practical artefact conservation, marked for me the end of the project. Besides learning a lot this year, I met some very nice people, all with different backgrounds, which I hope to see again in the future. While I am tr avelling back to the Netherlands, the rest of the team will finish their work in the coming days. They will round up any recording that is left to do and remove the materials that we have put on and around the wreck, afterwards leaving the wreck as much as it was found, so it will ready when we return, hopefully next year.
T hijs Coenen is team leader MUCH field school 2012, Robben Island
Land Team Blog
The land team consisted of students from the Netherlands, Canada, Swaziland and South Africa. We were given five different but interconnected project topics to choose from, upon which our work for the duration of the field school was based. Some chose to focus on the walking trail, others with burials and graveyards of Robben Island, historical archives and oral histories of the people currently living in Robben Island. Groups were then formed based on where a person wished to work.
The first few days were about basically knowing each other’s role in a project a person decided to engage in, in other words knowing your responsibility. One team focused on the Walking Trail project which aimed at creating routes for tourist for them to visit and get a better understanding of sites or protect them. Also they highlighted the issues which each site possesses and possible solutions for them. The second team was involved in the Prestwich burial grounds and the Lepers graveyard in order to find and establish symbiotic relationships with the two. A third team was involved in Archival research and lastly there was a group doing the Oral histories of Robben Island. Everybody on the land team had a chance to walk around the island for about 2 hours just to explore and look at all the sites which are visible and not so visible.
What was also great is that we had different experts for different fields of research. Aspects like software applications, conservations, shipwrecks, archives, and historians. Also these people helped us with our projects with regards to getting in depth information regarding our work, especially when we had to make recommendations to the site in which we were working upon. Lectures by the different speakers including students were also vital.
Overall the groups were somehow linked to one another directly or indirectly. This was due to that fact that we were all under the heritage umbrella including the diving team. We were interested in understanding Robben Island in all its facets which meant we had to be diverse in our approach. It was a great experience for all of us for I believe we will leave Robben Island as different people, or at least have things to talk and think about.
Shipwrecks and pottery
Since this Monday the land team has been split up in smaller groups and started to work on the subjects they chose. Jake, a student from the Univeristy of Cape Town, and I started working on the collections. We will go to the main land and document the objects from the ‘Middelburg’. We are working in two steps. First we take pictures of the object and write down a short description and when we finish that we will make a proper description of each object. We hope to finish this week with this.
The other land teams are busy collecting information, writing their ideas and proposals, and have begun with their practical work.
In the mean time the diving team has had some bad weather conditions. However on Tuesday, the conditions where finally good enough for a proper dive on the Barrel wreck. Till then they worked on the Swedish ‘Cannon wreck’.
So far it has been really fun to be here. It is a beautiful country and the people here are very nice. And the weather of course is not bad either. I have learned a lot in the last one and a half week. We have had really interesting lectures. It is also very good to meet different people with different backgrounds and interests. We can learn a lot from each other.
Lise den Hartog
Lise is an MA student from Leiden University.
The First Week
The first three days of our field school we have been staying at the campus of the University of Cape Town, for us as Dutch students this was a nice experience and a good way to get to know the South African and international students which are taking part in the field school as well. This was a good thing because this was the base of a nice cooperation.
Instead of going to Robben Island on Sunday, we had tours in the city and at the Cape Castle, we also went to the archives to look at the collections and the SAHRA institute. During these days we learned how to set up baselines, used in Maritime Archaeology and how to work with a GPS, which we had to practice in small groups around Cape Town. This was all necessary to give all the students a chance to practice their skills. Wednesday we went to the Island, which was the first time for us. The following day we walked a part of the walking trail, which was set up during the field school last year.
At the moment, the group is being divided into smaller groups, which will continue to work on several heritage and maritime related topics the coming weeks. Some will do research on oral histories of the island,, presentations of burial grounds, walking trails at the island or archive and collection works. Since we are here for our internship for Archaeological Heritage Management at the Leiden University, we will be working on the implementation of the walking trail that was designed last year. For us the cooperation with the international students was the best thing of this field school so far.
Deirdre v/d Bout & Charlotte de Hoogd
Deirdre v/d Bout and Charlotte de Hoogd are students from Leiden University,specializing for their MA's in Archaeological Heritage Management.
