Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, Caribbean Photographs From The 2013-2014 Field Season
May 2013
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Raimund, Rami and Ben get the new trash pumps ready
Done, the dredge set is finished, ready for work on The Tile Wreck site
Load up, time to go
Going through the mangroves to get to The Tile Wreck site
The channel trough the mangroves to get to the bay
As the channel meanders back and forth we can see the side of El Morro in the distance
Boat Captain Robinson watches as Raimund and Ben attacha float to the AX2000 toridal magnetometer
Raimund holding the tow line of the AX2000 proton magnetometer as the survey starts
A target has been found with the AX2000, smiles all round
Reading the control panel for the AX2000 can be difficult in the sun
Looking out for buoys which have been dropped on Mag hits
Retrieving some of the buoys
Raimund all ready to begin surveying, armed with tapes markers flags etc.
Ben about to role over into the water and start work
Dr Spooner ready to go from the 21st Century into the 17th!
The dredge boat on-route to the site
A simple and effective archaeological water dredge system of two trash pumps necked together with the water outputs joining underwater and going to the dredge head
First Team getting ready for three hours of dredge work
The work starts on uncovering the three pieces of timber which can be seen with the tops uncovered to the top right of the photo
At the tailgate the divers have an aggressive intruder
A small fish pokes its head out of the shells deposited on the tailgate. The small black round object is a piece of ballast stone or "chips" due to the size
A juvenile lion fish arrives at the tailgate. Whilst small, these can give a very bad sting and it had to be shooed away
Full size lion fish
The number of lion fish had declined over the years and in May there were only two adult lion fish on the wreck site. In 2008 there were over 12 of them and they would advance on the divers in a line
The excavation continues
A small piece of horsehair and tar which was used to cover the ships hull before the sacrificial planking was added
A side view of the three pieces of timber as they are uncovered
A top view of the three pieces of timber as they are uncovered
A piece of molten lead
The black dots are droplets of molten lead, which look like "pepper corns". Each one is as a result of the fire and when examined showed melting and droplets