Marine Archaeology

Ontario’s waterways have served as transportation corridors, meeting places, and cultural landscapes for thousands of years. Beneath their surfaces lie archaeological sites that speak to Indigenous histories, early settlement, industrial development, and historical navigation. ASI offers a dedicated Marine Archaeology Services program that combines technical capability with deep regulatory insight to support the responsible study and protection of underwater heritage resources. 

Our underwater heritage team is comprised of experts in International and Ontario underwater archaeology, who have extensive experience working with the province’s marine assessment methodology in collaboration with the Ministry of Citizenship & Multiculturalism (MCM).  

We use the latest field techniques for data capture, including:

• Side-scan sonar surveys to locate submerged cultural features and potential wreck sites
  
• Sub-bottom profiling to assess buried structures, paleochannels, and stratigraphic history 

• ROV-based investigations for detailed inspections in challenging or deep-water environments 

• Wreck documentation & photogrammetry to create accurate 3D records of underwater features 

• Sediment coring & paleoenvironmental sampling for scientific and cultural landscape reconstruction