Honor Frost has written a travel book with this difference: her journeys have extended below the surface of the sea. Her accounts of these regions can be compared with the writings of early travellers who, unhampered by overspecialization, recorded a variety of observations on completely unknown places. In setting down her direct experience she has thrown new light on the much discussed submect of underwater archaeology.

This book contains 22 colour and 28 monochrome photographs by well known divers, also 52 plans and drawings by the author illustrating her arguments. It is addressed to travellers, archaeologists and divers alike, and presents a fascinating theory of submarine excavation in terms allowing anyone interested in marine antiquities to judge whether free-diving must remain a synonym for treasure-hunting or, as a new method of investigation it can be adapted to the interests of science.

Marine antiquities are primarily associated with the Mediterranean not only because it was the cradle of western civilization, but because the physical factors of this sea (which Honor Frost describes) uniquely favour the preservation of ancient remains. Further, the technique of free diving was pioneered in Mediterranean waters where it has now developed into a skilled and disciplined profession. In consequence, some Mediterranean divers have acquired a wide comparative knowledge of wreck-formations, ancient harbours and the jetsam that marks the sea-lanes of anitquity.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• Map
• PART I: INITIATION CEREMONIES
• Chapter 1: Well Baptism – Psychological Effects of Diving – Mediterranean Beginnings – Diving Craft
• Chapter 2: The First Wreck – ‘Suckers’ – Underwater Propulsors
• PART II: ANCHORS AND ANCHORAGES
• Chapter 3: Road to Damascus – Anchorages – Information from Fishermen – Lebanese Divers – Stone Anchors – Byblos – Adonis’ Cave
• Chapter 4: Temple of the Obelisks – Tabarja Anchor – Stone Anchors: Votive, Maltese, Minoan, Round, Trireme and Byzantine–Arab – Documentary Clues – Lead-stocked Anchors, their Function and Variety – Iron Anchors
• PART III: PORTS
• Chapter 5: The Existence of Early Harbours – Structural Classification – Silt and Silting – Changing Sea Levels – Buried Cities – Tyre in History – Geological Positions – As Seen Today – Poidebard’s Aims in Excavating – His Methods – Findings – Outstanding Questions – The General Picture
• Chapter 6: The Layout of Sidon – Island Anchorage – The Closed Ports – The Hidden Mole – Fortifications – The Sluices – Structural Comparisons – Natural Rock-pools – Tabarja Interlude – The Port of Byblos
• Chapter 7: Asine – Mochlos – Mallia – A Rock-cut Tank at Nirou Khani – Komo and Matala – Greek and Roman Harbour Construction
• PART IV: WRECKS
• Chapter 8: Wreckless Lebanon – Variations on a Submarine Landscape – A Conversation: Halicarnassos, Seals and a Magic Spring – What Are Ancient Wrecks? – Their Formation not Continuous in Time – Wreck-formation and Geology – Their Appearance – Antique Cargoes: Mahdia, Anticythera, Artemesion – Modern Wrecks – On Travel – Beirut to Ankara – Afyon
• Chapter 9: Izmir: Demeter and Divers – The Meander Valley – Bodrum – The Castle – The Ancient Harbour – Project for a Maritime Museum
• Chapter 10: Karabagla Log – The Sites – A Geological Time Scale – Land Records – Deep-water Recording: its Limitations and Function
• Chapter 11: Nature of Wreck Formations – Dumas’s Excavation Method – Solutions to Recording Problems: the Grid, an Alternative Convention – Photography and Deep Water Recording
• PART V: SPONGE DIVERS AND ANOTHER ANCIENT TRADE
• Chapter 12: Petra Divers – Wreck Prospection – The Sponge Trade – Fishing with a Sponge Boat
• Chapter 13: A Forfeit and Ruins – Consignment for a Byzantine Architect – More Building Materials Lost – Back to the Gallo-Romans
• PART VI: ROMAN WOOD UNDER THE SEA-BED
• Chapter 14: ‘Round’ Ships – Their Joinery – Roman Hulls Found on Land – Pioneer Work at the Congloué
• Chapter 15: The Cargo of Sestius’ Ship – First Visit to the Congloué; A Piece of Keel – Two Parallel Groups of Planking – A Third Group with Ribs, Rider and Double Planking – Clues to Lie and Construction – The Need for Expert Evaluation
• Chapter 16: Land Archaeology and Marine Problems – The Interpretation of Existing Reports – Awareness of the Limitations of Underwater Work and Divers’ Craftsmanship
• Appendix
• Glossary of Turkish words
• Bibliography