September’s talk was given by Jill Hooper, who as far as I know is the first of our speakers to have started her working life as a nurse before progressing to archaeology via evening classes and an MA. Jill is therefore a splendid advocate for lifelong learning, as her chosen branch of archaeology involves diving as well as normal archaeological skills. She was among friends at RAS as many of our more active members have encountered her at Syon House, where she assisted as an environmental archaeologist on Birkbeck excavations and became interested in the foreshore area of Syon.

Much of Jill’s talk centred on the activities and training offered by the Nautical Archaeological Society, which aims to educate and train sport divers to think like archaeologists. A wide range of training is on offer, much of which would interest land-based archaeologists who can’t even swim, though other techniques are taught in swimming pools before progressing to open water

Jill explained the variety of constraints faced by underwater archaeologists, whose time on site is limited by the capacity of their air tanks and may be as little as 20 minutes per dive – so pre-planning is essential. There are also interesting problems associated with measuring depth from the surface, whenthis can vary by several metres asthe tide ebbs and flows, and with ‘excavating’ a site with a length of drainpipe attached to a pump. If one is not careful, finds disappear up the drainpipe. However, more familiar techniques such as the plotting frame are used, even though these may be mounted on legs to accommodate the irregularities of wrecks and hulks, and it may be necessary to wrap one’s ankles round the legs to stop one drifting away while recording. One successful initiative is the Wreckmap projects, which aim to transfer information which normally only exists in sport divers’ heads to the Sites and Monuments Record. This has resulted in a great deal of information about wrecks and hulks of various types being made publicly available.

Jill explained how her work at Syon foreshore formed part of a recording project towards the successful completion of one module of NAS training. She also provided other examples of locations where she had put her skills to practical use, ranging from training in how to sail Viking square-rigged ships at Roskilde, to the Mediterranean, Red Sea (favourite haunt of divers) and a ‘Viking fish trap’ in Shetland.

As with any other form of archaeology, there is a legal framework and licences are required for diving different types of site. Certain sites, of course, are designated war graves and cannot be visited at all. As Jill told us that only Wessex Archaeology, amongst the large contracting units, have a capability in maritime archaeology, it seems that there is plenty of scope for the enthusiastic and enlightened amateur.

Yvonne Masson