Understanding the processes and rates of natural decay of archaeological materials underwater. An introduction to the ENDURE project

UNESCO estimates that there are over 3 million shipwrecks and thousands of submerged prehistoric sites laying on the floor of the world’s oceans. In a rapidly changing ocean environment and increasing human exploitation of the marine environment, it is necessary to develop new concepts for assessing and preserving this resource in a more sustainable way. The ERC (European Research Council) project ENDURE (2022-27) aims to disentangle both natural and anthropogenic decay processes, determine their cumulative and interactive effects on underwater cultural heritage (UCH) and proposes a novel conceptual framework to preserve this heritage. In this paper we will provide the concepts and background of the project with a focus on investigations into the decay rates of natural processes.