Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks explores the physical and cultural processes affecting shipwreck sites. Authors from archaeology, chemistry, oceanography, and sediment dynamics share their expertise regarding the factors that influence the formation and preservation of shipwreck sites. These include the material aspects of ships, the underwater environment, and events including storms, chemical reactions, and subsequent human activity

Skowronek, Russell K.

English

Scholarworks@UTRGV Univ. of Texas RioGrande Valley

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ScholarWorks @ UTRGV History Faculty Publications and Presentations College of Liberal Arts 6-18-2018 Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks. Matthew E. Keith (review) Russell K. Skowronek The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, russell.skowronek@utrgv.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/hist_fac  Part of the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation Skowronek, Russell K., "Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks. Matthew E. Keith (review)" (2018). History Faculty Publications and Presentations. 1. https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/hist_fac/1 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts at ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UTRGV. For more information, please contact justin.white@utrgv.edu, william.flores01@utrgv.edu. 570 [Vol. 83, No. 3, 2018]AMERICAN ANTIQUITYmaterial. If we can no longer assume a unified set ofHopewellian ontologies, how are we to explain theHopewell phenomenon?Several of the chapters in this collection feel likethe beginnings of fruitful new avenues of research.Peter Whitridge describes his contribution on dogs inthe Arctic as a “tentative first step in thinking aboutthe ontological divide between a diverse group ofhumans and a diverse group of non-human animals”(p. 33). Likewise, Halperin’s contribution seems to bean example of working through some interesting ideasfor a recently excavated group of sites and materials.At several junctures I felt that greater dialogue withthe metaphysical ontological discussions taking placein Europe might have lent extra heft to these mostlyanthropologically derived debates. This is not to decrywhat is an impressive collection of essays, whichwill be an important touchstone for ontologicallyminded researchers on either side of the Atlantic.The provisional nature of some of the discussions inthis collection should not be viewed as evidence of alack of confidence in the material. Instead it signalsan eagerness to tackle challenging new paths forresearch. From the evidence of this book I suspect thatthe future of American archaeology and anthropologywill be moving toward a greater focus on questions ofan ontological character; this book acts as a signpostand way-marker for this important new direction.Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks.MATTHEW E. KEITH (editor), 2016. UniversityPress of Florida, Gainesville. xi + 276 pp. $79.95(hardcover), ISBN 978-0-8130-6162-7.Reviewed by Russell K. Skowronek, University ofTexas Rio Grande ValleySite Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecksexplores the physical and cultural processes affectingshipwreck sites. Authors from archaeology, chem-istry, oceanography, and sediment dynamics sharetheir expertise regarding the factors that influence theformation and preservation of shipwreck sites. Theseinclude the material aspects of ships, the underwaterenvironment, and events including storms, chemicalreactions, and subsequent human activity.In the introduction, the volume’s editor, MatthewKeith, and Ian Oxley note that underwater archaeolo-gists have recognized the importance of understandingthe processes affecting site formation since the 1960s.In the 1970s and 1980s, when terrestrial archaeol-ogists were embracing Michael Schiffer’s (Forma-tion Processes of the Archaeological Record, 1987)observations on how cultural and natural transforma-tions affect land sites, Keith Muckelroy (MaritimeArchaeology, 1978) was developing models for theevolution of a shipwreck site. He recognized twomechanisms—scrambling processes and extractingfilters—that would explain site condition. These, ofcourse, have been refined over the past 40 years. Thisbook is divided into “Natural Processes,” “CulturalProcesses,” and “Site Formation and Heritage Man-agement.”“Coastal and Inland Geologic and GeomorphicProcesses,” by Ben Ford, Carrie Sowden, KatherineFarnsworth, and M. Scott Harris, considers howsediment characteristics and movement, bottomtopography, wave and ice erosion, and humans affectgeomorphic processes by changing sediment transportin rivers and along coasts through damming, dredging,and the construction of groins. Two case studies, onein Oklahoma and another in Lake Ontario, illustratetheir findings.Matthew Keith and Amanda Evans contribute“Sediment and Site Formation in the Marine Environ-ment.” They consider sediment types encountered inthe open ocean and the factors influencing sedimentdeposition, accretion, scour, and stability. They notethat radioisotope analysis provides information onsediment accretion and erosion rates on wrecks.Scour occurs when sediments erode due to waves,tides, or changes in riverine discharge. In “MarineScour of Cohesionless Sediments,” authors RoryQuinn, Robin Saunders, Ruth Plets, Kieran Westley,and Justin Dix note that different scour patterns resultbased on the orientation of a wreck to currents. Excel-lent seafloor images demonstrate their observations.Chemist Ian Macleod proffers “Corrosion Productsand Site Formation Processes.” He notes that thereis a fall in corrosion rate with increasing depth andan increase in corrosion rate with acidity. Warmerwaters result in thicker layers of concretion. Macleodfinds that the growth rate of marine organisms oniron artifacts is twice that found on bricks, stone, orceramics.David Gregory contributes “Degradation ofWood.” In addition to Teredo navalis and other woodborers, Gregory discusses the effects of microbialdecay, rot, and tunneling and erosion bacteria on wood.He notes that analysis of wooden artifacts may revealrepeated burial and exposure following sinking.Amanda Evans and Antony Firth consider cul-tural processes in “Anthropogenic Impacts of Deve-lopment-Led Archaeology in an Offshore Context.”They find that oil and gas rigs, wind turbines, dredging,and pipeline and cable installation damage sites.Michael Brennan’s “Quantifying Impacts of Trawl-ing to Shipwrecks” finds that fishing nets snag and571REVIEWdamage ships. Photographs of damaged sites under-score his findings. Brennan feels that fishing gearis one of the greatest threats to underwater culturalheritage.Martin Gibbs and Brad Duncan’s “Cultural SiteFormation Processes Affecting Shipwrecks and Ship-ping Mishap Sites” considers salvage as a site forma-tion process. They note that researchers should notethe distinction between “pre-impact actions” and “Cri-sis,” “Survivor,” “Systematic,” and “Opportunistic”salvage and the purposeful abandonment of vessels.Part III focuses on site formation and heritage man-agement. Ian Oxley describes how English Heritageuses wreck site information and site formation theoryto develop policies for historic marine environments.Standardization in reporting was imperative to thecreation of its National Heritage Protection Plan,which determines priorities based on research andcreates a framework for management.The “DeepWrecks Project” in the Gulf of Mexicoends the book. Daniel Warren’s “Acoustic Positioningand Site Formation on Deep-Water World War IIShipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico” demonstrates howacoustic positioning data are important to determin-ing site distributions. Robert Church’s “The U-166and Robert E. Lee Battlefield: The Equation of SiteDistribution” builds on Warren’s data to understandthe battle and the sinking of both vessels. From thismethodology, sites may be more clearly delineated andprotected.Matthew Keith ends noting that site formationstudies provide information for archaeologists andheritage managers. The multidisciplinary approachdemonstrates the complexity of underwater researchand underscores the need for specialization.Keith has brought together an informative vol-ume. The discussions are nuanced and sophisticated.The target audiences of Submerged Shipwrecks areadvanced undergraduates, graduate students, and pro-fessionals. All will appreciate this fine book.Investigating the Ordinary: Everyday Matters inSoutheast Archaeology. SARAH E. PRICE andPHILIP J. CARR (editors), 2018. University of FloridaPress, Gainesville. xii + 278 pp. $84.95 (hardcover),ISBN 978-1-68340-021-9.Reviewed by Lynne P. Sullivan, University of Ten-nesseeInterpretation of everyday life in the past is a taskmore often associated with museum educators orhistoric site interpreters than “real” archaeologists.This innovative book challenges that perception andconvincingly argues that investigating the ordinarydoes matter in “real” archaeology for many reasons,including formulating research questions, integratingdata, collaborative research, and even theory building.The book is dedicated to Kit Wesler, rememberedespecially for his research and interpretive work at theMississippian Wickliffe Mounds in western Kentucky.The authors use varied approaches to reveal an every-day perspective on the past, from data-based fictionalnarratives to artifact “histories,” ecological regimesand engineering to chaos theory. These studies run thegamut from site-specific to regional.The especially enjoyable fictional narratives drawupon not only the authors’ breadth of knowledge buttheir imaginations in creating interpretive scenariosthat forefront everyday human relationships and activ-ities. Lance Greene, Kandace Hollenbach and StephenCarmody, Ashley Dumas, and Renee Walker employnarratives as part of explorations of a postremovalCherokee town, Early Archaic foragers in the Mid-South, salt extraction by Mississippian farmers insouth Alabama, and the life of an Archaic dog withhis human “family,” respectively. These authors notethat creating narratives forced them to think throughthe details of who, what, when, and how things weredone, resulting in new research questions.Two chapters consider human-deer relations.Shane Miller and Jesse Tune investigate Paleoindianhunting practices that exploited deer stranded duringriver floods in middle Tennessee. Everyday decisionsto kill many available deer possibly had the long-term effect of decreasing the deer population duringthe Younger Dryas. Christopher Moore and RichardJefferies examine Middle Archaic deer hunting anduse in the Ohio River valley. They review the manycontexts in which deer were daily components oflife, including clothing, ornaments, containers, food,and tools. The physical presence of deer and prepa-rations for hunting them, including magic and rit-uals, also likely were a part of everyday humaninteractions.Artifacts and their use trajectories are anotherpath for accessing the everyday past. Asa Randalland Zackary Gilmore follow the “itineraries” of LateArchaic containers in Florida’s St. Johns River region,highlighting possible uses, the shift in technology fromshell to pottery, and the everyday work of creatingthese artifacts. Philip Carr and Andrew Bradburyadvocate an Organization of Technology model foraligning the life cycles of stone tools and activi-ties. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical accounts, andspecial preservation conditions, provide fodder foranalyses and interpretations.

Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks. MATTHEW E. KEITH (Editor), 2016. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Xi 276 Pp. $79.95 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0-8130-6162-7

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&amp;context=hist_fac

Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks. MATTHEW E. KEITH (Editor), 2016. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Xi 276 Pp. $79.95 (Hardcover), ISBN 978-0-8130-6162-7

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