At the end of 2023, all activities under the project funded by the National Culture Fund through the “PROGRAM FOR RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE, REGIONAL, AND MUNICIPAL CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS” were successfully completed.
We successfully implemented an initiative for training young specialists in maritime history and underwater archaeology, focusing on innovations in marine research and interdisciplinary methods supporting underwater investigations. The participants were also introduced to innovations in the field that deliver high-impact results and have become standards of high-quality contemporary research practices. The school was combined with real fieldwork, allowing all participants—after completing practical diving courses and theoretical training on underwater archaeological methodology—to take part in underwater excavations as part of CPA’s projects throughout the entire year of 2023.
One of the main goals of the project is for the School to become an annual program, open to both Bulgarian and international students and young researchers. By implementing the school, the Centre for Underwater Archaeology (CUA) aims to address a very serious and current issue in Bulgarian underwater archaeology – the lack of specialists in the field. Filling this professional gap was precisely the leading objective of the current project. Many of the training sessions conducted during the school cannot be effectively taught or learned in a classroom environment. This is also one of the school’s greatest strengths – the teaching and application of innovative interdisciplinary methods and practices used in underwater archaeology directly in field conditions and on real archaeological sites.
An exceptional opportunity for the conservators in the school – Dana Zlatanova and Violeta Ilieva – was their participation in the underwater excavation of the “Urdoviza” shipwreck in the waters near the town of Kiten. This project included international participation by American and Australian experts in nautical archaeology and the conservation of artifacts from a marine environment. Their meeting and collaboration with Dr. Ian MacLeod, conservator-restorer at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, and Dr. Andrew Viduka, conservator-restorer, member of the International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage of ICOMOS and guest lecturer at the University of New England, Australia, proved to be extremely beneficial. As world-renowned experts in the field, they passed on invaluable practical knowledge and experience to our young specialists. Zhivko Payanev – a fourth-year Archaeology student at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, took part in four underwater archaeological expeditions of the Centre for Underwater Archaeology (CUA) in 2023 – the spring and autumn campaigns investigating the waters around Sts. Cyril and Methodius Island, the survey in the waters off Nessebar, and a non-invasive survey in the coastal waters off Shabla and Kavarna. In a short period, he gained hands-on experience and knowledge that cannot be acquired in a classroom setting. Georgi Dankov – a student at the University of Tübingen, Germany, specializing in palaeobotany, took part in an underwater archaeological expedition in Nessebar, as well as in the processing of palaeobotanical samples from the Early Bronze Age settlements near Ropotamo and Sozopol.
The theoretical part of the training included lectures and presentations across a wide thematic range: Underwater archaeological sites in the Black Sea – prehistoric settlements, ancient fortification structures and architectural complexes, historic harbours, shipwrecks; Methodology of underwater excavations; Methodology for documentation through photogrammetry, introduction to specialized processing software, and generation of 3D models of recorded sites; Geophysical methods and their application in underwater archaeology, including hands-on experience with data processing software and geophysical equipment (owned by the Center for Underwater Archaeology); Conservation of artefacts recovered from marine and freshwater environments; International experience and legal frameworks; Other interdisciplinary studies – dendrochronology, zooarchaeology, palaeobotany, palaeoecology, etc.; Use of specialized diving equipment – full-face masks, dry suits, underwater scooters, compressor use for tank filling, and water dredges – theoretical and practical modules.
