Challenges to Record, and Preserve, Intertidal Wrecks in the Province of Bizkaia (Basque Country, Spain)

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Transient legacies of the past: Historical Archaeology in the Intertidal Zone", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

For the last few years, we have started recording wrecks abandoned in the intertidal zone. This is an individual project done with the help of volunteers so recording speed is slow. We also have limited resources available; we cannot record all the wrecks and some interfere with others. Besides, there is no official policy about what to do with those wrecks since many are from the mid 20th century. Therefore, they are not considered of interest by many. For instance, threats to some wrecks have already been done when the Port Authority covered at least two of them without recording them. Others wrecks in areas are protected by the Environment Agency cannot be reach as the Agency claims that archaeological activities will affect endangered species in the area. So, despite our efforts we are losing them. This paper will present such examples and ask for suggestions to overcome the problems.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Transient legacies of the past: Historical Archaeology in the Intertidal Zone   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow