Conserve and protect submerged cultural heritage
In the face of the urbanization of coastal areas, the development of port infrastructures or the increase in exploitation of marine resources (mining of aggregates or hydrocarbons, establishment and connection of wind farms or tidal turbines), taking into account, as soon as possible, the archaeological impact, makes it possible to best reconcile the development of projects and the preservation of submerged cultural heritage.
Preventive archaeology
The submerged cultural heritage, lying on or under the seabed of the seas, lakes, rivers and rivers, may be threatened with destruction by the exploitation of the sub-sea, lake or river soil and development work. It is to ward off this threat that the field of preventive archaeology has been defined by the Heritage Code as having as its object the detection, the conservation or safeguarding by scientific study of archaeological heritage that may be affected by public or private works... on land and under water.
In the fresh waters (lakes, rivers, ...), it is the regional prefects (regional services of Archaeology) who are in charge of the application of the code of heritage.
In contrast, for maritime environments, both in the public domain (territorial waters up to 12 miles from the coast) and in the contiguous zone (12 to 24 miles from the coast), the investigation of development files as well as the prescription of preventive archaeology operations are the responsibility of the Drassm.
Site protection: the fight against looting
In France, the Ordinance of the Navy of August 1681 laid down the principle according to which, apart from the rights which its rightful owner retains over a maritime wreck, only the State can claim ownership over “the effects stranded or thrown away by the waves...”, whether they are “of the sea or of breakage, sinking or grounding”.. If for nearly four centuries this principle has not been questioned, it remains that maritime cultural property remains under threat of looting. To combat this risk, the Drassm works closely with the police and gendarmerie services, but also with the judicial customs, and regularly appeals to the courts for sanction. This struggle has enjoyed great success in recent years. In some years, thousands of objects have become part of public collections, sometimes more than 25 years after they were smuggled in.
Anxious to improve its protection policy with regard to maritime cultural property, France ratified in 2013 the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the protection of underwater cultural heritage. It will enable it to oppose shipwreck hunters in a more structured way by extending its action to the limits of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Preventive conservation and management of furniture
Almost all the remains brought to light during the study of submerged archaeological sites, although apparently well preserved in situ, are in great danger once exhumed. They must immediately be taken care of and stored in environmental conditions comparable to those that allowed them to reach us.
For this reason, the Drassm’s “preventive conservation cell” is in charge of the management of archaeological furniture uncovered incidentally or during the operations of expertise and underwater excavations. It thus ensures the continuity of the operating chain from the discovery of objects to their study or their valorization in a museum. In symbiosis with the facade managers, it participates in the monitoring of archaeological operations, assists archaeologists in the collection and conservation of objects, provides the relay to the specialists in charge of studies and restoration laboratories.
In collaboration with the documentation officer, the “preventive conservation unit” also coordinates the management of archaeological objects. These can be loaned for temporary exhibitions or placed in permanent collections to be valued.
Deposits
Spread over all the maritime façades of metropolitan France and overseas, sixteen archaeological repositories make it possible to host collections brought to light as close as possible to their discovery region.
For historical reasons, the oldest deposits are located on the Mediterranean façade. At the bottom, a depot houses in Nantes the maritime cultural properties of the Atlantic, Channel and North Sea façades, while in the ultra-marine territories, storage sites have been recently developed, in coordination with State archaeological services and local authorities.
Many students and researchers are welcomed each year in these repositories to study the collections inventoried in the Drassm databases. Nearly 160,000 objects now make up this digitized inventory.