It's a little-known sport. And which will make you want to all culture and history buffs. The Tarn diving club, Cap Plunge 81, has just inaugurated an underwater archaeological diving workshop on the Cap Découverte site. The club will now be able to provide training for all those who would then like to participate voluntarily in underwater or underwater excavation sites.
Divers will have to look for reproductions of tableware or pottery dating from the Gallo-Roman era made available via a partnership with the Montans archaeo-site.
And if the club was able to launch this training it is thanks to the Cap Découverte website. The old mine hole, filled with water after 1997, which belongs to the department of Tarn, is the place perfect for delivering these trainings rejoices Sylvain Gourc, coordinator of the archeology project at the Cap diving 81 club. “Without this place we would not have been able to think about the project in the same way in the sense that it has incredible potential. In the conference rooms, we have access to changing rooms, we have access to a diving compressor to fill our tanks .”
And the Tarnais continues on the interest also of the lake: “There is a division of depths which really allows us to practice in safety. With waters which are not salty, where there is no wind, no traffic, no storm. This allows us to control everything, to really feel concentrate on teaching. It also allows us to welcome people who are not experienced either. You need a decent level of diving but you don't need to be a Cousteau or an archaeologist.” Lake Sainte-Marie at Cap-Découverte measures 1300 m in diameter and goes up to 300 m deep in stages.
The idea is really to be able to acquire the basics of this fairly technical practice obviously continues the Tarnais. “We take federal divers at diving level 2. They need a little autonomy and we train them in the specific techniques of archaeological diving. For that, we have an underwater vacuum cleaner, we take measurements, we have contact with the antique furniture so you have to have a keen eye. But there, it's not a question of being an academic to be able to get started.”
And once they graduate, the trainees will be able to voluntarily participate in the excavation site. There are some at sea of course, but not only that. Sylvain Gourc has just participated in a prospecting project in Saint-Betrand-de-Comminges around a potential ancient port. Moreover, underwater archeology projects will multiply in rivers. Notably because Europe has asked to remove all obstacles in waterways (for fish and respect for the river bed.) An operation which will require excavation sites each time.
The Cap Plongée 81 club also organizes underwater cleaning operations
