The project will be partly financed by the European Community Culture 2000 Programme which supports international cultural co-operation by promoting common European cultural treasures, and encouraging interest in European history and culture. The four shipwrecks concerned are all extremely well preserved - the paddle steamer, E. Nordevall was wrecked in Lake Vättern in Sweden in 1856; the trade-ship Vrouw Maria, went down in the Finnish archipelago in 1771; a medieval cog from the 13th century had its final resting place at the mouth of the Prerowstrom in Germany; and a well-preserved shipwreck dating from the 1650s lies in the western part of the Wadden Sea in the Netherlands.
Underwater window
Thanks to various imaging media, the four shipwrecks can be studied at their resting place at the bottom of the seas or lakes, and the methods available for monitoring the physical and environmental conditions of ancient shipwrecks can be developed and improved.
The co-ordinator of the Marine Archaeology Project is Finland's Museum of Maritime History in Helsinki. Other partner organisations are the Mary Rose Archaeological Services Ltd (UK); the National Service for Archaeological Heritage (UK); the Netherlands Institute for Ship and Underwater Archaeology; the Centre for Maritime Archaeology (Denmark); the regional organisation for the preservation of cultural environments in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany); and the Department of Marine Archaeology at Södertörn University College in Stockholm (Sweden). Websites, publications, posters, information sheets and seminars are just some of the communication activities planned by the project team to incite the interest of the general public and researchers. (Source: The Swedish Research Council press release)
