Maritime Archaeology over Borders
Within the framework of the project “Maritime Archaeology over Borders – Sweden and Georgia” and the memorandum between the two countries a new “Centre of Maritime Archaeology” was established at Ilia State University. The first academic courses will be given in the fall semester of 2011 for the sophomore students. The courses will follow the same education model as at Södertörn University of Sweden. The teachers from the Swedish side will be Söderlind, Ulrica and Jaramillo, Rubi and from the Georgian side Donadze, Paata and Beritashvili, Ioseb. They will also be in charge of the Centre. The contact e-mail of the Center is: maritime_archaeology@iliauni.edu.ge
As a continuation of the last year’s activities within the project of Maritime archaeology over the borders the Swedish participants together with the Georgian counterparts are at the moment working in the Shaori lake/reservoir in the mountain area of Racha. The lake is situated on high altitude and, therefore, the special demands for high altitude diving need to be met.
The primary goal is to allow the students to know archaeological documentation methods under water, such as locating, drawing etc. The site for the expedition is carefully chosen taking into account the lakes/reservoir geographical location its dark and sometimes cold water. The lake/reservoir also have underwater currents that complicates the work since the visibility can change from approximately between 4-5 meter to half a meter in short time. If a maritime archaeologist is able to work in cold, dark waters with a dry suit they are capable of working anywhere in the world. However, if the maritime archaeologist gets its training in warm waters with a visibility of 25 meters or more, they will not be able to carry out the work in locations similar to the Shaori lake. The students will therefore be very well prepared mentally, physically and technically to participate in any kind of archaeological expeditions the world.
The group will leave for Sweden in the middle of August and continue their activities within the project until the end of September.