State-of-the art underwater technology is helping researchers to unlock the secrets of the deep blue sea. The University of Ulster's Centre for Maritime Archaeology has acquired detection equipment which was once the preserve of navy personnel. The CMA's work at the university's Coleraine campus involves ancient shipwrecks and shifting sands. Archaeologists record details of the thousands of shipwrecks along the British and Irish coasts. The ultra modern equipment is aiding the process of recording the ships' location, state of preservation and to predict how long they will last, before the elements destroy them. "Many old shipwreck sites and archaeological landscapes currently lie in deep water, or in areas where effective diver-investigations are limited by poor visibility," said Dr Rory Quinn, a lecturer at the CMA.

"The science of maritime archaeology greatly benefits from the availability of sonar technology to relocate and map these shipwrecks and former occupation sites." Researchers at the centre are assessing data from recent surveys, including detection work at the site of the Spanish Armada ship Girona which went down off the north Antrim coast in 1588.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News