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\nIn 2022, the Center for Underwater Archaeology signed a contract to implement a project funded by the National Culture Fund under the \u201cProgram for the Recovery and Development of State, Regional, and Municipal Cultural Institutions.\u201d The main activity outlined in the project proposal was the organization of a Maritime School for Underwater Archaeologyaimed at students and\/or professionals in archaeology, history, and conservation for interdisciplinary practical training.
\nWe are pleased to share that the project implementation is nearing completion.
\nThe School of Maritime History and Underwater Archaeology was fully focused on training in innovative, interdisciplinary methods and modern technologies used in complex underwater archaeological research.
\nWith the project’s financial support, two full-face masks were acquired\u2014equipped with both wired and wireless communication systems\u2014as well as specialized software Sea View MOSAIC+SBP. This is a high-performance platform for processing geophysical data obtained through multibeam echosounders, side-scan sonar, and sub-bottom profilers. The Center has been operating with such equipment for nine years, and its effectiveness in underwater archaeological geophysical surveys has been repeatedly demonstrated.
\nAs part of the project, two archaeology students\u2014Zhivko Payanev, a fourth-year archaeology student at Sofia University \u201cSt. Kliment Ohridski,\u201d and Georgi Dankov, a master\u2019s student in Archaeological Science and Human Evolution at the University of T\u00fcbingen, Germany\u2014were certified as divers and took part in fieldwork on CUA projects.
\nThe other two participants were conservators who successfully completed a specialized internship at the INA Research Center in Bodrum, focusing on processes such as wood desalination, impregnation, and drying techniques for artifacts recovered from a marine environment. The specialization was carried out under the auspices of INA, on the initiative and with the strong support of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Krum Batchvarov from the University of Connecticut and affiliated member of INA. Violeta Karailieva, who defended her dissertation in 2023 on archaeometric analyses of bronze vessels from the 1st\u20133rd century AD from Southeastern Bulgaria and has been an assistant at the National Academy of Arts since 2020, and Dana Zlatanova, who graduated in 2013 from the National Academy of Arts, Faculty of Applied Arts, Department of Conservation, with a Master of Fine Arts (Conservation and Restoration), also participated.
\nAfter successfully obtaining their diving certifications, all four participants took part in various underwater archaeological projects of the Center throughout 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"