Abstract

Most archaeological activity in Ontario is performed by amateurs employing non-disturbance techniques. They are recording valuable data without excavating (destroying) sites. However, their work is equally important for it is they who are documenting the resource and preserving it, in situ, for future generations. The professional marine archaeological community in Ontario (indeed across Canada) is small and they could never hope to interpret the many thousands of marine sites without the assistance of the sport diving community working through avocational or marine heritage conservation organizations. This paper will relate the efforts of amateurs with Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS) in protecting and documenting marine sites (without the need for conservation) so that professionals may interpret sea-faring activities in past centuries.