The project

From May 31^st to June 26^th, a training course took place on Malta island, as part of one of the European Programme Euromed Heritage II projects, “The Mediterranean historical naval dockyards network”, under the management of both the University of Malta and UNESCO, on European Commission funds.

In September 2002 a first training course of the same kind had been organized in France in the bay of Villefranche-sur-mer (Alpes Maritimes). The selected students also had to come from a Mediterranean country, and they must possess a theoretical background in archaeology.

The GRAN (or Groupe de Recherche en Archéologie Navale, a non-profit organization with more than 20 years’ worth of experience) was entrusted with both training courses. We chose to deal mostly with the administrative, practical and technical aspects of underwater excavation campaign preparation, supervision and post-campaign management.

Partnership

The underwater works were authorized by the Maltese Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and benefited from the help of the Malta Maritime Authority, which kindly put a ship – the Madonna Ta Pinu -, and its crew, at our disposal.

The course was divided in two main phases : a training in underwater prospecting, using magnetometry (a technique allowing the archeologists to record and analyse the Earth’s magnetic field anomalies) aboard the Madona Ta Pinu; and an excavation campaign on a wreck discovered some forty years ago near the northern coast of Malta island.

The team