Friday, May 25, 2007

Underwater archaeology in Alexandria

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7393
"According to Mahrus, neither winter nor summer is the ideal time for underwater excavations. Exceptionally, some have to dive during these seasons for different purposes like testing new equipment or getting a view of a potential target.
The senior archaeologist explained: 'Currently the sinking antiquities teams are working at various sites of our coast. May and June, then September, October and November are the golden times for people working in this field. The climatic conditions, that are the biggest obstacles for archaeologists, are mostly propitious.'
But Mahrus and his coworkers were speaking from an experienced discoverer’s perspective, beacuse, apart from climatic changes, working underwater is never risk-free and every time an underwater archaeologist should be ready to come face-to-face with death. He could lose his way within a wreck, be stuck in a heavy object or develop a fault with his diving set.
However, archaeologists’ fears are always overshadowed by their keenness to unravel one aspect of Egypt’s history that has become the focus and talk of the entire world after more than a decade of underwater excavations."

See the above page for the full story.

No comments: