Development of Methods for Underwater Cultural Heritage Exploration: The Case of
the Destroyer Warabi, Which Sank in the Mihonoseki Incident

Development of Methods for Underwater Cultural Heritage Exploration: The Case of
the Destroyer Warabi, Which Sank in the Mihonoseki Incident

The topic of this abstract is most appropriate for this Session 1, as it deals with the preservation and use of
underwater cultural heritage (UCH) in East Asia (Japan). The case study will be based on the discovery and
digital recording of the warship destroyer Warabi, which sank in 1927 in the Sea of Japan and has since been
lost. We use state of the art technology at depths between 95m and 180m. Resources available for the work
include multibeam acoustic sounding and photography using ROVs, and 3D photogrammetry using PC
software. The research questions are developed out of the identification and condition of UCH at great depths,
as difficult and not well documented or conserved. The results will contribute significantly to the development
of research methods in underwater archaeology.

Masami Sannoh

Keitaro Ohara

Kotaro Yamafune

Yasumasa Ichikawa

Ryohei Uetaki

Hayate Kimura

Masaya Katagiri

Takashi Kitsuda

Tomoyuki Nishio

Toshiyuki Ohara

Hironobu Kan

The Museum of Underwater Archaeology

2023

English

Sannoh, Masami. 2023. “Development of methods for underwater cultural heritage exploration. ―The case of the destroyer Warabi, which sank in the Mihonoseki Incident.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, Akifumi Iwabuchi, and Kotaro Yamafune. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL:https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1887