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Excavation and recording

Divers worked in two metre square areas, using a baseline and tape measures to record the location of artefacts on a large-scale plan of the site. The team used drawing and photography to record the entire site, as it was excavated in stages over successive fieldwork seasons. Underwater photography was

a vital tool to record the site, and two Nikonos cameras with 28-millimetre lenses mounted in parallel and set 0.6 metres apart on a bar were used for stereophotogrammetry. By taking aligned, overlapping images, complete photographic coverage of the site was obtained, from which a photomosaic site plan

was created. Black and white photographs were processed and printed in the field. Archaeologists used a stereo-viewer to view the prints in 3D, to assist in their interpretation of the site.

Diver photographing Batavia timbers using a one metre scale grid.

Credit: WA Museum, BTA_523