The Impact of Humans on Shipwrecks in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Reflections, Practice, and Ethics in Historical Archaeology" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

            Shipwrecks are adversely affected by human activities. Some of the most common activities conducted by humans, including recreational SCUBA diving and fishing, have the potential to destroy the data and cultural integrity of these sites. Human interaction with shipwrecks requires additional research to find the best way to limit human impact on shipwrecks. This project’s primary goal was to measure the level of human impact on newly discovered shipwrecks one year after their locations were made publicly accessible. To achieve this goal six wrecks whose positions were unreleased until 2017 in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire were examined during the summer of 2018. The primary method was the comparison of pre-existing video data with video data collected in 2018 to determine if there are any noticeable changes in the conditions of the shipwrecks including evidence of looting since their locations have been published. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Reflections, Practice, and Ethics in Historical Archaeology

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 239