Deep-Sea Archaeology

The study of wrecks beyond conventional diver depth (roughly below 50 to 60 meters) using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), multibeam and side-scan sonar, and photogrammetry. RMS Titanic, found by Robert Ballard in 1985 at about 3,800 meters, was the field’s proving ground. Deep, cold, often anoxic water preserves organic material that shallow sites lose. The discipline raises ethics and law questions on intervention versus in-situ preservation, addressed in the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.