16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

113 Zadar, Croatia | 26 September – 1 October 2021 Lucy Semaan & Sergio el Kesrouwani Honor Frost Foundation, Lebanon The Modern Shipwrecks Project – Lebanon The poster serves to inform the audience of the ‘Modern Shipwreck Project’ (MSP) which is being undertaken in Lebanon by the Honor Frost Foundation’s Leb- anon team. It will also introduce the relatively newly formed HFF Lebanon team. The MSP entails performing ground-truthing dives on wreck sites, predom- inately modern, located offshore across the Lebanese coastline as part of the HFF Modern Shipwreck Database Project in Lebanon. The sites’ locations are acquired through different sources, including data from online sources, charts, divers, as well as results from remote sensing surveys performed in the past. The wrecks mostly consist of 20 th century cargo ships and some military vessels that date back to the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), WWII and WWI. Al- though many of these ships are not strictly considered as archaeology according to the national legislation, they certainly hold historic value. Our goal is to be able to help preserve these sites and share themwith the public, so that the past is not forgotten, and these sites can be appreciated and valued. The poster will include images and 3D models of wreck sites, as well as snippets of the database, maps, and the team in action. The ground-truthing phase of the project is done through diver-based visual surveys to verify the presence or absence of wrecks, document and record the finds, and extract as much information as possible to help determine the iden- tity of the sunken remains. The data produced from this project allows us to de- termine and assess the locations of possible cultural heritage sites, bringing them to light, and aid in future efforts to preserve them. Due to the lack of monitoring and implementation of protective measures, shipwrecks are prone to looting and damaging by sport divers and fishing activity. Therefore, a clear assessment of such a part of Lebanon’s submerged cultural heritage is needed.