Effective Management of Divers on Archaeological and Historical Shipwreck Sites in the Red Sea, Egypt

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Each year, the SCUBA industry creates a billion-dollar economy and numerous job opportunities; many of which are in developing countries. Popular diving attractions, such as the Thistlegorm in Egypt, or the Pacific’s Chuuk Lagoon, are UCH sites and attract many visitors. Each year, the Thistlegorm generates €5,000,000 and attracts thousands to the Egypt’s Red Sea. When managed effectively historic shipwrecks, can be intellectually, culturally, and financially enriching.

Seemingly, the lack of oversight, regulation, and education of divers places these UCH sites atrisk against illegal salvage, looting, destruction of archaeological integrity, and increased decomposition of the wreck sites.

Effective project management plans can be devised and implemented via evaluating different traits, conditions, and circumstances for three at-risk UCH wreck sites of the Red Sea: the Roman wreck at Fury Shoals, the 18th C Ottoman merchant ship of Sadana Island, and the Thistlegorm WWII shipwreck.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow