An immersive exhibition about underwater archaeology has opened at the Intrepid Museum in New York City. Mysteries From The Deep: Exploring Underwater Archaeology is being shown in the museum’s Space Shuttle Pavilion as the first stop of a multi-year international tour.
The Intrepid Museum was founded in 1982 with the acquisition of the WW2 aircraft-carrier Intrepid forming the centrepiece of its varied collection. It claims to welcome more than a million international visitors every year.
The new exhibition, co-produced with Flying Fish and guest-curated by underwater archaeologist Megan Lickliter-Mundon, explores “sunken aircraft, shipwrecks, submerged cities and lost landscapes”, with text, videos and educational materials in both English and Spanish.
Fifteen interactive experiences take visitors through aspects of underwater archaeology such as sonar mapping, piloting an ROV, reconstructing digital dive-sites and examining genuine artefacts from historic shipwrecks.
Remote sensing technologies such as LiDAR are explained, as are what are said to be the intersections between underwater archaeology and climate change, innovation and global preservation efforts.
Submerged experiences include Pavlopetri in Greece, the world’s oldest-known sunken city, and the wreck of the Clotilda in Mobile Bay, Alabama, the last known slave-ship to arrive in the USA.
“Mysteries From The Deep is a powerful example of how immersive storytelling and ground-breaking technology bring the past to life and inspire the future,” says Intrepid Museum president Susan Marenoff-Zausner.
“Not only is the science behind underwater archaeology both intriguing and exciting, but similar to the discovery of fragments of a Corsair flown off Intrepid’s own flight-deck, an exhibit at the museum, it also reveals the deeply human stories of those lost with the artefacts and the emotional connections that endure.”
Mysteries From The Deep remains at the Intrepid Museum (Pier 86 at Hudson River Park, 12th Avenue) until 11 January next year, and entry is free with general admission.
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