Maney Publishing

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Review
Author(s): Richard A. Gould
Review by: Richard A. Gould
Source: Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 246-249
Published by: Maney Publishing
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246 BookReviews
decoration of the church and the remarkablestory of the
dispersion of many of the marbles, including the famous
piers now in Venice and a capital in Barcelona, all presum-
ably brought to the West in the aftermath of the Fourth
Crusade.
This is a fascinating story about a most important mon-
ument, and the color plates help to express a sense of the
richness and splendor of the building. The book is, how-
ever, not altogether successful in conveying the excitement
of the story or the details of the reconstruction. The nar-
rative style is often dull and complicated, full of technical
terms that are out of place in a popular book. At times
the argument is difficult to follow, as the reader gets lost
in the wealth of detail. In some respects, however, the
book is unfortunately thin: we learn, for example, nothing
about the stratigraphy of the site or the non-architectural
finds. These, of course, are considered in the detailed
scholarly publications, but they should have formed some
part of the present book. The author's concern, however,
is almost entirely architectural and designed to shed "en-
tirely new light on the major formative period of Byzan-
tine art" [p. 11].
The excavation and study of the church of St. Polyeuk-
tos certainly does that, but this volume is in many ways a
disappointment to those who wish to see Byzantine ar-
chaeology emerge as a major field of scholarly inquiry.
One hopes the book will find its way into many libraries
and homes and call attention to the subject. On the other
hand, the book is less than exciting, and it presents By-
zantine archaeology in a very traditional setting, as the
handmaiden of the history of art and architecture. Byzan-
tine archaeology is, of course, much more than that, and
research by Harrison (in Lycia and now at Amorion) and
others has made important contributions to our under-
standing of Byzantine society and the important changes
that took place in the Eastern Mediterranean at the end
of antiquity and beyond. The author and the University
of Texas Press should be praised for the idea that led to
publication of this book, but one hopes for more in other
attempts at popularization in Byzantine archaeology.
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Maritime Archaeology: A Technical
Handbook
JEREMY GREEN. 282 pages, 128 figures, bibliography, in-
dex. London: Academic Press, 1990. ?27.00 cloth. ISBN
0- 12-298630-X.
Reviewed by Richard A. Gould, Department of Anthro-
pology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912
In 1978 the late Keith Muckelroy published a book
with this same title. It presented a fresh view of nautical
and underwater archaeology that embodied many of the
approaches and goals then under discussion by other,
"land" archaeologists, especially Muckelroy's mentor,
D. L. Clarke. So the appearance of a new book titled
MaritimeArchaeologyby an experienced and widely-known
scholar in the field invites a consideration of the "post-
Muckelroy paradigm" in underwater archaeology as well
as of the book itself.
Green's book is offered as a technical manual for un-
derwater archaeologists and does not range as widely over
the discipline as Muckelroy's did in 1978. In some ways
it should be regarded as complementary to the latter vol-
ume, especially in the way it describes specific recording
techniques in detail and brings many technical aspects of
nautical archaeology up to date. It examines survey and
excavation procedures and reviews such domains as un-
derwater photography, conservation, and use of comput-
ers. Inevitably some of the coverage overlaps with meth-
ods familiar to land archaeologists, especially in
discussions about such matters as artifactphotography and
drawing and in the preparation of manuscripts for publi-
cation. There are plenty of techniques, however, that are
unique to archaeology under water. I found many useful
tips on specific methods, and I can recommend this book
highly as a reference for anyone wishing to become fa-
miliar with widely-used underwater site survey and re-
cording methods.
One peculiarity of the book, which is understandable
given the rapidly changing nature of technology in un-
derwater research, is the way it skims over recent advances
in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and
underwater electronic positioning devices. Anything one
says in print today about such advanced technologies is
likely to be out of date tomorrow. The author gives a
brief account of such methods, but he does not attempt a
detailed review of the state of the art in this domain. He,
rightly in my judgment, avoids giving detailed instruction
on their use. Such instruction is best left to the designers
and builders of such apparatus, who usually provide their
own manuals and training programs. And, finally, the cost

of such advanced technologies is at present high and is
usually beyond the reach of any but the best-funded re-
searchers (usually those with government support).
Yet this decision by the author, however justified in
practical terms, misses a major opportunity. At this time,
the field of maritime archaeology is in transition, and
Green's book is more representative of past approaches
than it is indicative of future directions in which these
new technologies can be expected to play a key role. The
discipline is poised to "take the plunge" into deep water
archaeology, meaning, specifically, at depths below the
effective use of SCUBA (approximately 190 feet). In a
sense, underwater archaeology has been until now essen-
tially an extension of land-oriented methods and controls
into the underwater domain. There is, for example, a
widespread public and scholarly assumption that maritime
archaeology requires the use of human divers on-site. Such
an assumption effectively precludes the possibility of "blue
water" archaeology at greater depths, even when the tech-
nologies for controlled archaeological research at great
depths are becoming available.
While the reader can appreciate the need to retain and
to apply more conventional recording and survey meth-
ods, he/she will learn relatively little from this book about
how new technologies should be applied to the problems
of deep or "blue water" archaeology. This is particularly
true of the role of underwater positioning by electronic
means (Mullen 1986), since this, more than anything else,
sets archaeology apart from other underwater research
disciplines. Oceanographers, marine biologists, and un-
derwater geologists can usually obtain the data they need
directly from the water column or from relatively gener-
alized locations on or in the seabed. Archaeologists, on
the other hand, require exact positioning information in
order to record and interpret physical associations in a
controlled manner. This has always been true on land, and
Green's book indicates that similar requirements apply in
marine archaeology performed by divers. Greater atten-
tion by the author to the role of ROVs and electronic
positioning methods in the future direction of underwater
archaeology would have been welcome.
Another subject passed over lightly by the author has
to do with strategies for sampling in regional surveys. The
survey methods described in the book tend to be focused
on the problem of locating sites. Swimlines, towed
searches using swimmers or divers, aerial surveys, and
electronic techniques such as the use of side-scan sonar
and magnetometers are adequately described, primarily
with site location as the goal. Yet these same techniques
and others described by the author can be used effectively
to survey regions, in such a way as to determine whether
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JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.
18, 1991 247
or not sites of a specified kind exist within the survey area.
In other words, recent developments in land archaeology
regarding area or regional survey methods demonstrate
the importance of approaches that can eliminate the pos-
sibility of sites as effectively as they can confirm their
presence. The concept of the "siteless survey" (Dunnell
and Dancey 1983) and other organized approaches to
regional survey and the assessment of archaeological re-
sources within surveyed areas (Nance 1983) are playing
an increasingly important role in archaeology on land and
are applicable to underwater research, but this develop-
ment is not strongly reflected in Green's book. There is
still a tendency toward "site fixation" among underwater
archaeologists, and this assumption is evident in Maritime
Archaeologyand in virtually everything written so far on
the subject of underwater archaeology.
Green's handbook is at its best in its treatment of re-
cording and recovery of site data. Useful methods are
presented for locating the position of sites, for mapping
site features, and for controlled underwater excavation.
Here we can detect the voice of experience. The author
notes the practicaldifficulties occasioned by currents, poor
visibility and low light levels, and other field conditions
that are unique to the underwater environment, and he
offers useful suggestions for dealing with them. For ex-
ample, he points out the importance of having the field
team rehearse its site recording and measuring techniques
on land before attempting them underwater, especially
under conditions of limited visibility. Amen to that! The
overall result of the author's discussions of such techniques
is to make seemingly difficult or impossible underwater
tasks do-able and in accord with the standards of contem-
porary archaeology. Such advice should dispel any linger-
ing assumptions that underwater archaeology cannot
achieve levels of accuracy and reliability considered ac-
ceptable on land.
While generally in agreement with the methods de-
scribed, I feel obliged to point out some specific problems.
The section dealing with trilaterationas a survey technique
could be improved by using the baseline more fully, per-
haps even by means of multiple baselines. The level of
accuracy of points along a baseline, if set properly and
checked regularly for accuracy, may be greater than the
author is prepared to accept. On the other hand, baseline
trilateration requires that the measurements be carriedout
on as level a plane as possible, since any vertical compo-
nent will introduce errors when the tape measure slants
up or down from the baseline to the measured points.
Baseline trilateration is one of the most useful nonde-
structive methods archaeologists have for recording un-
derwater sites, so the importance of discussing its advan-
248 BookReviews
tages and limitations in detail cannot be overemphasized.
Also, I cannot believe that 23 knots is a ". . . speed
comfortable for the diver," while being towed behind a
boat or sled [p. 41]. Surely this is a misprint, since 2.3
knots would be much better. This brings up another prob-
lem about the book which has more to do with the editor
than the author. Without even trying, I found numerous
typographical errors and three instances of missing mate-
rial, possibly whole pages, which in some cases altered the
meaning or affected the understanding of the material
being presented. Most of the illustrations are excellent,
but Figure 3:12 on page 42 is problematical. Where is
the wreck site described for this aerial photograph? The
segment of beach indicated by the arrow does not reveal
anything like a wreck site. And finally, on page 118, I
cannot help but wonder if one should not be adding weight
to the photographic tower to make it slightly negatively
buoyant, not buoyancyas stated in the text. These editorial
errors detract from the book, especially when key material
is missing.
Toward the end of the book, Green moves beyond
matters of method and technique to consider the larger
goals of maritime archaeology. He also addresses ques-
tions pertaining to current legislation and attempts to deal
with the effects of private relic collectors and commercial
treasurehunters. Much has happened with regard to these
topics since Muckelroy's book, and I found the chapter
on legislation to be an especially good, concise treatment
of this difficult problem. One issue that arises whenever
shipwreck data are studied is the relationship between
historical sources and the archaeological record. The au-
thor's plea for ". . . more thoughtful use of the material
record and the historical documentation" is timely and
applies to historical archaeology more generally as well.
Given the pragmatic, down-to-earth advice on methods
and techniques that predominates in this book--which is,
after all, a handbook-it is not surprising to encounter a
mocking tone by the author when he notes the excessive
use of jargon and clouded arguments by theorists who
argue for more analytical and anthropological interpreta-
tions in historical archaeology. (How often have we heard
Binford's [1972] call for a "nomothetic paradigm or Hy-
pothetico-Deductive-Inductive Process" cited in this con-
text?)
A technical handbook like this is probably not the best
forum for a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of mar-
itime archaeology. It would therefore be inappropriate to
criticize the author for failing to do something that, in
fact, he never set out to do. Within the constraints of the
limited goals set by Green, the book does well and pro-
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vides a useful resource for both amateur and professional
archaeologists working on shipwreck sites.
Yet, as my earlier discussion of regional sampling and
the use of ROVs and electronic underwater positioning
technologies suggests, the author's treatment of tech-
niques does depend, in large measure, upon theory-based
assumptions. What Muckelroy's book did over a decade
ago was to challenge marine archaeologists to examine the
assumptions upon which their ideas about past human
behavior in relation to seafaring were based. Muckelroy's
distinction between "filters" and "scramblers"paralleled
Schiffer's (1987) much-cited discussions, among land ar-
chaeologists, of transformational processes in the archae-
ological record and the ways such transforms affect the
archaeologist's perception of the human past. In each case,
archaeologists have been making serious efforts to develop
and apply this important body of theory to their meth-
odologies by identifying and controlling for the effects of
these transformational processes on the material associa-
tions they set out to record.
Green's book provides a detailed account of widely used
methods for locating shipwrecks and for recording ship-
wreck associations, especially by diver-archaeologistsusing
SCUBA or surface-supplied air. But the book never ex-
plains how or to what extent the results obtained by these
methods can be expected to provide reliable explanations
for the past human behavior that produced them. That is,
the author never addresses the issue of controls in the
process of archaeological inference. This should be a dom-
inant issue in the post-Muckelroy era of maritime archae-
ology, yet its importance remains largely unrecognized
within the discipline. In this respect, Green's book is fairly
representative of the current state of the art within mari-
time archaeology, which does not seem to have advanced
much beyond a descriptive mode toward the more ana-
lytical approaches advocated by theorists like Muckelroy
and Schiffer.
Binford,LewisR.
1972 "Evolutionand the Horizon as Revealedin Ceramic
Analysisin HistoricalArchaeology:
A StepTowardthe
Developmentof ArchaeologicalScience,"TheConference
on HistoricSiteArchaeology
Papers1971 6:117-125.
Dunnell,RobertC., andWilliamS. Dancey
1983 "TheSitelessSurvey:A RegionalScaleDataCollection
Strategy,"in Michael B. Schiffer, ed., Advancesin Ar-
Methodand Theory6. New York: Academic
chaeological
Press, 267-287.
Keith
Muckelroy,
1978 New York: CambridgeUniversity
MaritimeArchaeology.
Press.

Mullen, Craig T.
1986 'Taking the Guessworkout of Subsea Navigation,"Sea
Technology 27(3): 10-18.
Nance, Jack D.
1983 "Regional Sampling in ArchaeologicalSurvey:The Sta-
tisticalPerspective,"in Michael B. Schiffer,ed., Advances
in ArchaeologicalMethodand Theory6. New York: Aca-
demic Press, 289-356.
Schiffer,Michael B.
1987 FormationProcesses of theArchaeological
Record.Albuquer-
que: University of New Mexico Press.
Archaeological Wood--Properties,
Chemistry, and Preservation
R.M. ROWELL AND R.J. BARBOUR, eds. AdvancesSeries 225.
Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1990.
472 pages, 105 figures, 115 black-and-whitephotographs,
references, index. $79.95 cloth. ISBN 0-8412-1623-1.
Reviewed by James A. Spriggs, Head of Conservation,
York Archaeological Trust, 1, The Pavement, York Y01
2NA, United Kingdom.
The appearanceof a major publication on the chemistry
and conservation of archaeological wood is a most wel-
come event, particularly so as it fills an unoccupied niche
in the literature surrounding a hitherto underrepresented
and badly-understood archaeological resource. It seems
that finds of archaeological wood made in the past have
often been regarded at best as an expensive embarrass-
ment, and at the worst as an unwelcome nuisance. The
sheer size, volume, fragility, and messiness of wood finds,
especially if discovered unexpectedly, often militate against
correct care being taken to ensure safe recovery. This is
mainly due to a general lack of resources and technical
know-how to deal with such finds, but also in no small
part to a certain lack of awareness on the part of many to
the potential of wood both as a source of archaeological
information and as material for museum display. After all,
the discovery of wooden artifacts from an ancient culture
normally represented only by stone implements and pot-
tery ought to be an event of considerable significance. Yet
these finds rarely receive the care, resources, and attention
that they deserve.
Even without the chance discoveries of steamboats in
the mud of the Mississippi during drought, and ancient
Indian settlements buried by mudslides, archaeologists
and anthropologists are turning their attention worldwide
to the deliberate excavation of wet sites. By integrated
ecofactual, artifactual, and archaeological research pro-
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JournalofFieldArchaeology/Vol.
18, 1991 249
grams, it is gradually being realized how much may be
learned from such sites. Yet the thirst for such research
has in many cases outstripped the resources and trained
personnel to actually preserve the fragile organic materials
which are the very tools of this research. The Windover
site in Florida, excavated several years ago, might be cited
here, but of greater significance is the fact that, in the
whole of the United States, there is not to my knowledge
a single major archaeological wood-preservation facility
capable of undertaking conservation work under contract.
As is stated in the final chapter of this book: 'The con-
servation of organic materialsfrom archaeological contexts
is now in crisis. More is being recovered than can be
conserved with existing facilities and techniques. Existing
collections of conserved archaeological wood are in need
of re-evaluation and, too often, retreatment."
But the crisis referred to here is not just a matter of a
lack of resources, facilities, and conservators, though these
are serious concerns. An understanding of the science of
wood chemistry and degradation is lagging behind the
many advances in technology, and if properly evaluated
might well resolve many of the technical problems en-
countered in wood conservation. Wood scientists rarely
appreciate fully the practical problems faced by conserva-
tors trying to preservelarge wooden items and, conversely,
conservators are not asking the wood scientists the right
questions to get the results they need. There is a com-
munications gap, and until it is bridged the conservation
of archaeological wood will remain in crisis.
This book, the result of a symposium of wood scientists
and conservators held in Los Angeles in 1988, goes a long
way to resolve this problem of communication by com-
bining in its 17 chapters a huge amount of information,
both theoretical and practical, on many aspects of the
chemistry, breakdown, and preservation of wood. The
term "archaeological" in the book's title is used in its
looser sense to include almost every type of wooden item,
buried or not, wet or dry, large or small-in fact anything
of historical significance. In this respect, I think the subject
matter was allowed to become too broad, and there are
some important topics which, to my mind, are either
glossed over or absent altogether. Despite the fact that
some of the largest and most complex finds of ancient
wood come from marine environments, there is very little
specificallyon the nature of these environments, and noth-
ing on marine borers or other forms of biological decay
on the sea bed. The most crucial period for the long-term
survival of ancient wood, both from marine and terrestrial
environments, is the period during and immediately after
excavation. Yet no mention is made, except obliquely per-