Sound of Mull Archaeological Project (SOMAP) 2006

Lochaline Dive Centre: July 29th-August 5th 2006

Lochaline Dive Centre is planning a programme of maritime archaeological projects and activities in the Sound of Mull starting with the Sound of Mull Archaeological Project (SOMAP) 2006. SOMAP is a long-running project, based at Lochaline Dive Centre, which provides an opportunity for participants to record the underwater heritage whilst diving in the clear waters of the Sound of Mull.

For SOMAP 2006 maritime archaeologists Mark and Annabel Lawrence, owners of Lochaline Dive Centre, Martin Dean (one of the founders of the original SOMAP project), now Senior Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and Richard Bates, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews, will be providing SOMAP participants with an opportunity to get involved first hand with current methods of maritime archaeological assessment and evaluation whilst fulfilling the objectives of SOMAP*.

SOMAP 2006 will adopt standard maritime archaeological practice in the investigation of both known and unknown (potential) sites in the Sound of Mull. Sites targeted for 2006 include anomalies within Tobermory Bay and the known wreck of the steamship Shuna, which sank in 1913 (multibeam sonar image shown right).

SOMAP participants will be conducting surveys with a full range of remote sensing equipment and carrying out diver based archaeological assessment and evaluation tasks - all based from hard boats. Ashore, a programme of lectures will be given to cover all aspects of the geophysical and diver based activities in use during the project. The lectures will include examples of these techniques being applied to many other important maritime archaeological sites around the UK, based on the personal experience of the course co-ordinators.

The results from SOMAP 2006 will be the production of records sufficient to establish the presence, position and type of the unknown sites and sufficient records to establish the extent, character and importance of the known site. All results will be passed on to the National Monuments Record after the completion of the project.

The cost of the project per person for 2006 will be £449 and includes hardboat hire, accommodation and food, diving gas and course literature. Course numbers are limited to 12. Diving qualifications will need to be equivalent to CMAS 2*. Cylinders and weight belts are available for hire at the Centre but all other diving equipment will be required.

Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) members attending SOMAP 2006 will be able to have their field experience and tuition accredited appropriately by NAS Scotland Training Officer Peter Pritchard.

For further information and details please e-mail lochaline.divecentre@virgin.net or call 01967 421627.

Further information:

SOMAP 2006 will have two main threads that aim to reflect the process of archaeological assessment and evaluation of both known and unknown sites within the Sound.

In the first instance SOMAP 2006 will be making use of existing sonar datasets collected in the Sound of Mull during 2003 by the Sound of Mull mapping consortium (Historic Scotland, Centre for Digital Imaging DJCAD University of Dundee, Morvern Maritime Centre, and Lochaline Dive Centre). You can download a copy of the report of this work here (file 5.5Mb). A number of targets identified from this data will then be chosen as the subject of further geophysical survey by SOMAP 2006 participants using a caesium magnetometer, high frequency sidescan sonar, inferometric multibeam sonar and an ROV. The results of these additional datasets will be used to single out sites for diver assessment by SOMAP participants who will undertake archaeological recording to a level that will allow their presence, extent and type to be established.

In the second instance, a single known site, the wreck of the steamship Shuna (wrecked in 1913), will be the subject of diver based surveys by SOMAP 2006 participants. The diver based surveys will be geared to achieve levels of non-intrusive archaeological recording sufficient to provide information to establish the extent, character and archaeological importance of the site.

*SOMAP's principal objectives are:

to catalogue the ship losses, known wrecks, scattered finds, and historical information related to the underwater heritage of the Sound of Mull;
to undertake surveys of selected shipwrecks for the purposes of archaeological research, and to enable monitoring of the condition of these wrecks in the future;
to fulfill the role of Licensee (local guardian) with respect of the Designated Historic Wrecks in the Sound of the Swan and Dartmouth.
to promote the importance of conserving the underwater heritage to visiting divers and to local business interests.

Mark and Annabel Lawrence
Lochaline Dive Centre

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