Franck Goddio

is a pioneer of modern maritime archaeology. In the early 1980s he founded the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM), of which he is currently president. Goddio has initiated and directed a number of excavations on shipwrecks including seven junks from the 11th to 16th century, two Spanish galleons and two trading vessels of the British East India Company. Goddio’s most ambitious project is conducted off the coast of Egypt, in Alexandria’s ancient eastern harbour and in the Bay of Aboukir (30km east of Alexandria). In partnership with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, a vast area the size of Paris has been mapped and investigated since 1992. In 2000, the ancient city of Heracleion and parts of the city of Canopus were discovered. The research is ongoing.

Excavation projects directed by Goddio have a strictly non-commercial purpose and his work is always carried out in cooperation with the national Authorities, in whose territorial waters the exploration is taking place. The excavation work is founded on legal provisions that regulate underwater excavations and on international archaeological standards (UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage).

In 2003, in co-operation with the University of Oxford’s School of Archaeology, the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA) was founded and in 2009, Goddio was appointed a Senior Visiting Lecturer within the School of Archaeology. Goddio’s research projects have been supported by the Hilti Foundation since 1996. Some of the artefacts from this incredible site are currently touring the world as part of the Osiris Exhibition Tour.

More information can be found at

www.franckgoddio.org