Four Ships, Three Years, Two Blocks: Managing Alexandria’s Derelict Merchant Fleet

Tatiana Niculescu

Four Ships, Three Years, Two Blocks: Managing Alexandria’s Derelict Merchant Fleet

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Urban Archaeology: Down by the Water" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Adopted by City Council in November of 1989 and incorporated into the zoning ordinance in 1992, Alexandria’s Archaeological Protection Code serves to preserve the city’s rich heritage for future generations of scholars and the public. Recent large-scale projects along the waterfront have unearthed amazing finds, perhaps beyond what the originators of the code ever imagined possible, including four historic ships and numerous wharves and other landmaking structures. Documenting, removing, stabilizing, and conserving these artifacts has been a massive undertaking that has required the dedicated efforts of developers, contract archaeology crews, city staff from multiple departments, and a variety of other specialists. Four years after the excavation of the first ship, this paper reflects on both the triumphs and challenges of managing such a large scale, water-logged collection and outlines our plans and vision for the future.