16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

62 16 th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology José Manuel Matés Luque University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain Yesterday´s watercraft, tomorrow´s watercraft. Recording the 20 th century timber watercraft abandoned on the riverbanks of the Basque intertidal estuaries As archaeologists, we tend to focus on old watercraft to understand past socie- ties. By recording such watercraft, we aim to understand the people who built and used them and, sometimes, died in them. As Basque archaeologists, we have realized that many timber watercrafts are abandoned on the riverbanks of estuaries. They are a rich source of informa- tion to understand not only the 20 th century ship and boatbuilding construction - whose last watercraft are disappearing as they are replaced by fiberglass and metal ones - but also older ships and boats, since they represent the last steps in ship and boatbuilding which have their roots in the Middle Ages. For the last few years, we have started recording the estuaries, focusing on any type of watercraft abandoned there. This is not an easy task as they are mud- dy places where one also must work with the tides, a risky environment making the recording a bit more difficult. During December 2019 and February 2020, we managed to record the re- mains of at least ten different watercrafts. They are two boats, a barge and seven fishing ships. Some are almost complete whilst other are just small parts. During summer 2021 we aim to record some new ones and finish with the recording of other which were partially recorded in the 2020-2021 campaign. It is important to record them now, as they are still accessible with relative- ly complete structure. If we allow time and environment to attack them before they are properly recorded, one day they will collapse and disappear; then, it will be too late to record anything. If this happens, what will future archaeologists say about us? We had the opportunity, but we did nothing. Let us hope that our effort is not in vain.