Estudio de la influencia de las condiciones físicas, químicas y biológicas en el deterioro y salvaguarda del patrimonio histórico subacuático

  1. Fernandez Momblant, Tomas
Supervised by:
  1. Manuel Bethencourt Núñez Director
  2. Alfredo Izquierdo González Director

Defence university: Universidad de Cádiz

Fecha de defensa: 30 June 2016

Committee:
  1. Flávio Augusto Bastos da Cruz Martins Chair
  2. Miguel Bruno Mejías Secretary
  3. Carlos de Juan Fuertes Committee member
Department:
  1. Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica

Type: Thesis

Teseo: 425093 DIALNET

Abstract

The continuous exploitation and search in seabed, along with the notable improvement in geophysical exploration techniques have resulted in the massive discovering of shipwrecks and other underwater archaeological structures. The classic scheme of intervention, based on extraction, stabilization and storage of this huge amount of archaeological remains, is constrained by important technical and economical limitations. Therefore, the archaeological community was moving towards a less intrusive approach, where the in situ conservation is deemed to be the most appropriate option. From this angle, it is imperative to understand the degradation process of the archaeological materials, along with the site formation process and its possible evolution. It is equally important to be aware of the relationship between the above mentioned process and the environmental marine factors. Therefore, according to the initial hypothesis, the site formation process, deterioration process, the evolution and future perspectives of the archaeological site conservation are influenced by the environmental marine factors. This Thesis is structured in nine Chapters. Chapter 1 contains an introduction, background and information about the thesis structure. Chapters 2 and 3 asses the influence of environmental marine condition status of the shipwreck sites under study. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 specifically focus on the contribution of physical factors (waves and currents) and the associated morphological process to the damage and stability of the studied shipwrecks sites. In Chapters 7 and 8, I analyze the site formation process during the depositional phase (Chapter 7), and its subsequent evolution (Chapter 8). Finally, Chapter 9 summarizes the main conclusion derived from the achieved results. The formulated hypothesis was tested from Chapter 2 to 8. The research adds valuable knowledge for an enhanced comprehension of the influence of environmental marine conditions on the shipwrecks sites formation process and their impact on the degradation process of underwater archaeological materials. Additionally, valuable methodologies and data aroused from the present Thesis, whose application may be helpful to archaeologists and the marine heritage community, during the exploration phase, excavation periods, as well as to prioritize, design and evaluate in situ conservation projects.