16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

96 16 th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology Timmy Gambin 1 & Alberto Bravo-Morata Rodríguez 2 1 University of Malta, Malta 2 University of Malta, Malta; Aix-Marseille University, France The remote sensing survey off Malta – approaches to the mapping of an island’s territorial waters Side Scan Sonar as a technique for surveying is a well-known & stablished method, commonly known to be used with a “towed system configuration”, operated from a boat, which tows the device and controls the survey. In archaeology, this tech- nique can be used in different kind of surveys, such as “blind” surveys, documen- tation of specific areas or sites with known remains which are non-accessible, etc. The Malta Shipwreck Project, conducted by the University of Malta is aimed at surveying Malta’s territorial waters, in order to create a map of archaeological remains located on the seabed. Since 2018, this work is executed using an Auton- omous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Its main payload is an Edgetech dual-frequency (600/1600 Khz) Side Scan Sonar. Due to the capabilities of this particular AUV (sta- bility and battery autonomy), it is able to produce images that are of much higher definition than traditional towed systems. Another advantage is the doing away with long turns associated with working with a “towed fish”. In the results obtained from the surveys conducted with the AUV, various kinds of information are obtained (kind of seabed, bathymetry, presence of anom- alies, trawling signs, geological formations, etc.). These are useful for fields of re- search that go beyond the realm of archaeology. In this poster we will highlight the methodology established by the UM’s team, with the aim of being able to document a site in detail from the discovery until verification stages. Using a combination of approaches the team is able to obtain various deliverables that range from large maps of the seabed to very de- tailed high-resolution imagery of archaeological targets. Such information guides the last stage of recording which is the recording of the site as a 3D photogram- metric model.