The week in Montenegro was full of exciting research opportunities, just like our time in Croatia. The most fascinating was ancient Risan, which we visited together with the RCUD staff and Dr Dejan Gazivoda. Named Rhizon in Antiquity, it is the old city in Kotor Bay and Illyrian Queen Teuta’s capital. Dating to the 6th century BC and well suited for maritime trade, we found a massive scatter of amphoras on the seafloor under the city. Kotor Bay is a beautiful natural harbor and ships from all over the Mediterranean stopped to trade with Risan. Dr Piotr Dyczek and a Polish team of archaeologists have been excavating on land since 2000, as well as some underwater survey, and have learned a great deal of new information on ancient Illyrians. The scatter on the seafloor and submerged structures suggest that there is a great deal of left to learn underwater.

I am editing an upcoming book titled “The Archaeology of Underwater Caves,” so field school co-director Derek Smith let me know that the RCUD divers were interested in showing us an underwater cave I jumped at it. Derek and I have been working in Albania’s Blue Eye spring for several years and are both cave divers, but we were hesitant to take student into an overhead environment. However, we were assured by the RCUD staff about the safe depth of the cave and that the fact that all the students were qualified AAUS scientific divers. After a quick briefing about caves in paleolandscapes and the archaeological potential of underwater caves, we jumped in the boat and headed to the site. I quickly realized there was nothing to worry about. The cave was enormous, riddled with exits, and close to the surface. The cave would have been dry 10,000 years ago; however, no cultural material was found in the cave to my disappointment. The student enjoyed the exercise and I hope to have some new converts to underwater cave archaeology.

Students also surveyed several shipwrecks from an ancient amphora scatter along an island inside Kotor Bay to a World War II shipwreck sunk just outside the entrance to Kotor. We surveyed around several navigational hazards in the bay, finding amphoras from nearby Croatia as well as Rhodian amphoras from the Aegean and North African amphoras from Tunisia. Much is left to be done recording the ancient sites in Kotor, though the RCUD divers have covered every inch of the bay and are ready to share this information with archaeologists. The bay’s rich history has left its imprint beneath the waves, from ancient through modern time, just waiting to be discovered.

We would like to thank RCUD director Veselin Mijajlović and the Center’s staff for hosting us. Though the ICEP staff is bit sad that this field school is complete, we look forward to next year’s collaborations with Montenegro’s RCUD and Croatia’s ICUA. Remember to check out photos from the field school on the ICEP Facebook page.

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We began with a week in Croatia aiding ongoing research into the shipwrecks of Zadar county. Directed by Dr. Luka Bekić, the ICUA is an UNESCO facility that has established itself as a leader in maritime archaeology. The first day of the field school, ICUA archaeologist and education coordinator Mladen Pešić taught a Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) Introduction course. The second day consisted of a conservation component led by Mladen Mustaček in the excellent conservation facility on the Centre’s grounds. The following five days were spent surveying reported wreck sites with Dr. Bekić, Pešić, and ICUA archaeologist Marina Šimičić as part of a five year maritime survey project covering Zadar County.

I was struck by the level at which the entire coast of Croatia is imbued with maritime culture. Croatia has thousands of islands and sailing is a regular activity for most people living on the coast. Many individuals live on the islands and commute to work in the mainland cities. After working in Albania and Montenegro for the last 4 years, I was unprepared for volume of sailboats, water taxis, fishing vessels, and workboats. While many countries have moved beyond their maritime pasts in favor of cars, trucks, and bikes, watercraft are still integral to Croatian life.

The archaeological sites mirrored this way of life. In the lee of every islet was a scatter of ceramics revealing ancient anchorage sites. Ceramics collected as part of the survey show ancient trade from all over the Mediterranean such as the Aegean and North Africa. Anchorages were not the only sites surveyed however. We investigated several wrecks that sank in shallow waters, demonstrating the differences between wrecks and anchorages to the students. As an interdisciplinary field school, students also collected ecological data. They learned why certain sponges grow on specific artefacts, how fish can indicate where wrecks are while on scuba surveys, and how an octopus is an archaeologist’s best friend. The strength of the field school in an interdisciplinary approach and we stress to the students how different disciplines can save time and add information that we would otherwise miss. You can see photos of the students at work and the artefacts at the field school’s Facebook page.

The ICEP staff is composed of Dr. Chris Begley (Transylvania University), Dr. Derek Irwin (Université Paris Ouest), Dr. Kurt Knoerl (Museum of Underwater Archaeology), Howard Phoenix (RPM Nautical Foundation), Dr. Jeff Royal (RPM Nautical Foundation), Derek Smith (University of Washington), Petra Zdravkovic (University of Belgrade), and myself, as well as crew chiefs Nick Bartos (Brown University) and Lee Pape (West Florida University). We would like to thank Dr. Bekić and the ICUA staff for an incredible week of education and research.

In the next post I will explore the underwater cultural heritage of Montenegro as we partner with the RCUD to examine shipwrecks, underwater caves, and a city’s submerged remains.

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