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CHAPTER I
ITRODUCTIO
The research that comprises this dissertation began in the summer of 2005, when
the Archaeological and Regional Superintendents for the Artistic Heritage of Calabria,
Drs. Annalisa Zarattini and Francesco Prosperetti, granted the Institute of Nautical
Archaeology (INA) a permit to survey the seafloor south of Croton. The RPM Nautical
Foundation (RPM) supported the project by making available its two research vessels
Juno and Hercules, then stationed in Malta, along with crew and technicians to collect,
process, and interpret multibeam and side-scan sonar data. Dr. Annalisa Zarattini,
Dr. Jeffrey Royal, and I were co-directors of the research for the Soprintendenza ai Beni
Archeologici della Calabria (local branch of the Italian Fine Arts Bureau), RPM, and
INA, respectively. The main goal of the field work was to create an accurate
archaeological map of the seafloor south of Croton, between 5 and 75 m depth. SCUBA
divers visually inspected the targets determined by the ships’ surveying equipment up to
a depth of 40 m, and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was employed to check the
nature of deeper sites. The first season was so successful, revealing four marble cargoes
of probable Roman Imperial date, named Punta Scifo A, Punta Scifo B, Punta Cicala,
and Capo Cimiti, that a second summer of research was planned for the following year.
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This dissertation follows the style of the American Journal of Archaeology.
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