Welcome to the Underwater World of SPB! (Guest Bloggers Becca Bowles and Dana Carris)

 The First Smallpox Bay Snorkel Survey 

During the fourth week of excavations, Mike approached me and my colleague Dana about designing and executing a preliminary survey of Smallpox Bay, east of our terrestrial sites. Because we appreciate that the sea was essential to the lives of Smith's Island's first settlers (and everyone who came after them), we wanted to explore linking the "wet" and "dry" sides of our historical subjects. Dana and I did not have our dive gear, however, so we determined that a snorkel survey would be the best way to assess whether the bay might be worth further investigation in a future season.

We broke down the survey into three main sections- (1) a coastal survey at low tide to identify any features that would have been associated with the bay and the terrestrial site, (2) a snorkel survey of the bay along transects intended to cover the entire bottom of the bay, and (3) excavation of test trenches based on any concentration of artifacts identified in the transect survey. We used volunteers from among the rest of the team who wanted to learn more about how underwater archaeology is done.

Our survey of the shoreline turned up several interesting features. We discovered two deep and angled postholes located just at the end of our path down to the bay that once held long posts used as davits-  which we then reused to create our own functioning reconstructed dock - as well as also detecting and utilizing three shallow steps which were cut into the shoreline between the postholes.

The experimental 19^th c dock we reconstructed based on features found from the coastal survey- this was nice to use to take equipment to and from site, and the stairs cut into the shoreline helped us embark and disembark more easily!

 Boats could pull up bow first, let people disembark, and then tie up using blocks on the davits to keep the vessel from smashing into the rocks - which worked very well for us! We also identified two post holes farther north along the shoreline, one of which had wood still wedged in it, that could be used to tie up vessels. 

 Our first step of the snorkel survey was to remove the modern debris from the bottom of the bay- which we realized quickly was a futile effort! There were so many modern beer and wine bottles that it was not feasible to collect them all to uncover the older materials. We decided that we would determine if bottles were modern or historic as we swam the transect lines- touching the bottom of the bottles looking for ridges or looking for seams along the length of the bottle was an effective way to weed out 20^th-21^st century intrusive materials. 

The tools of snorkel surveys- long measuring tapes
held down by rocks, brushes to clean off algae
and barnacles, a compass to check the headings
of our transects, snorkel and mask, and Mylar-
the best friend of an underwater archaeologist

This took the longest in our survey, as we had only one tape that was long enough and had to re-set it on the bottom of the bay with each new line. Artifacts were found and called out along with their location on the transect and were then photographed and replaced in the water. This was due to the issue of conserving artifacts waterlogged with saltwater- as the water evaporates, the salt crystalizes and can damage artifacts, especially finely glazed pottery and porous ceramics. The artifacts that we decided to keep were immersed in saltwater until we were back on Paget Island, after which they were immediately placed into desalination baths- freshwater baths that we changed twice a day to slowly replace the saltwater permeating the artifacts with harmless freshwater! 

Snorkel survey in process near the shoreline of Smallpox Bay- we enjoyed
 letting people test the waters of underwater archaeology!

 The final step in the preliminary snorkel survey was our test trench excavation. The location of three one-meter² test units were determined based on several concentrations of older artifacts, and these units were place in the middle of the finds. After deciding where to conduct these excavations, we removed as much modern debris as possible from the test trenches and began to excavate. Dana and I excavated these unit excavations ourselves, since it was imperative that we kept the bottom as clear of sediment stirred up from our fins while swimming as possible. While the theory of excavating underwater is like terrestrial excavations, the method is quite different. Most of our excavation underwater were done  by hand fanning sediments away to reveal what artifacts lay beneath, removing any modern debris, and then fanning and examining again. This required patience since we did not have a dredge to remove the stirred-up sediment and we often had to take a break until we regained enough visibility to see and feel what we were picking up. With the exception of a few diagnostic items worthy of conservation, all historic artifacts found from these test trenches were recorded, photographed, and placed back in the bay.

Overall, our preliminary survey yielded very promising results. We discovered concentrations of older artifacts- some dating back to possibly the 17^th century - and have begun to archaeologically connect the SPB terrestrial sites with contemporary underwater sites. After all, the first settlers had to get here by sea, so it seems quite reasonable to investigate the waters adjoining Bermuda's first town! Although Dana and I were without our dive gear this summer and unable to rent any due to time constraints, we have begun thinking about what a diving survey of the SPB site would involve and how to conduct it using local Bermudian divers. Based on bottom probing we did when first examining the two bays and examining satellite imaging, it seems that the bay west of the SPB terrestrial site peninsula is deeper and would have provided a better anchorage for a ship such as the Plough, which had a deeper draft to accommodate its larger passenger number. Diving in this bay and in the deeper waters of Smith's Sound to the south of the SPB terrestrial sites would allow us to investigate for a longer period and also let us conduct a more thorough underwater survey, which would likely reveal older and more intact artifacts buried under deeper sediment. This archaeological connection of land and sea has been very exciting to be a part of this season, and we are both hoping we can help with future investigations into the maritime history of Smith’s Island!

Finds from the snorkel survey and test trench excavation grouped by date

 Rebecca Bowles and Dana Carris were both trained in Texas A&M University's stellar Nautical Archaeology Program - among the best in the world. Carris earned his MA and is currently working as a professional terrestrial and underwater archaeologist. Bowles is in her fifth year of Ph.D. study and is preparing to defend her dissertation prospectus.