Meet the tomb diver going for gold with a career in underwater archaeology

You’re one of just 16 people in the world to have dived beneath a pyramid. What led you there?

Good luck, really. In 2018, American archaeologist Pearce Paul Creasman came into my dive shop in Phoenix, Arizona, with this crazy idea of excavating a flooded tomb beneath a pyramid in Nuri, a really remote part of Sudan. I’d already dived a lot of unusual places, so he asked me to start making a plan — thinking about everything from airflow to lighting and mapping — to help the team of underwater archaeologists that he had in mind to complete the project. A year later, he called me, explaining that they may have underestimated the challenge slightly, and he asked me to come along. “Can you be in Africa in a week?” he asked, and I was there. 

What’s the significance of the site?

It’s the resting place of King Nastasen, who ruled the Kingdom of Kush from 335 to around 315-310 BCE. The Kushites held sway over some 750 miles of territory in the Nile Valley, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about the area during that period. Our project, which is still ongoing, is critical to understanding the ancient kingdom, its environment and its people.

How does underwater excavation work?

We bring in buckets and scoop up the contents of the chambers in mapped sections, then have additional divers stationed at intervals to send the buckets back above ground. We typically do two hour-long dives, six days a week, using surface-supplied air through tubes rather than tanks for ease of movement. If we find something significant, we pack it in with clay or mud and seal it in a protective case. For preservation, we keep these artefacts underwater until they can be collected by a conservationist. In the case of the pyramid in Nuri, any artefacts belong to the Sudanese people, and we hope they will go to the museums in the capital, Khartoum. 

For a lot of people, underwater archaeology will seem terrifying. What’s the draw?

It can be scary and uncomfortable. Often you have no way of knowing the depth, temperature, visibility and structural stability of the site in advance. It’s dark and really disorienting, but if you can push the fear aside, you get to experience something no one else has. The first time we went into King Nastasen’s tomb, we had crystal clear visibility — there was gold everywhere, and so much of it had degraded in the water that the whole place was glistening. Finding the sarcophagus in the third chamber was mind-blowing. We didn’t even have to dig; it was right there. The last person to see it was alive in 300 BCE, and then there’s me. It’s crazy. 

Where would you recommend for those wanting to experience underwater archaeological sites?

Playa del Carmen in Mexico has a bit of everything. You can dive the cenotes [subterranean lakes] and experience Mayan history, as they were used for sacrificial offerings, and explore wrecks or head out on reef dives. Also worth considering is the Submerged Archaeological Park of Baia, Italy. You really feel like you’re in ancient Italy, with mosaics and pillars and statues all around. Alternatively, the Second World War wrecks in the Middle East are epic. There’s Jordan’s Underwater Military Museum, where they’ve sunk helicopters, tanks — a whole host of military vehicles to explore. It’s not ancient, but it’s fascinating.

What qualifications do divers need to visit such sites? 

As a minimum, I’d say the PADI Advanced Open Water qualification, which allows you to dive almost anything within a recreational limit — up to 100ft deep. The PADI website has a list of dive shops at most destinations, as well as information on dive sites and depths.

Where’s next on your list?

The Dead Sea Diving Society, an off-shoot of the Pyramid Dive Club that I belong to, is looking at an archaeological site in the Dead Sea. It’d be the first time one has been excavated there and, like Sudan, the lake poses its own challenges. The high salt concentration affects buoyancy and makes diving tough, so logistically, it’s a nightmare — but we don’t want things to be easy.

Do you ever feel afraid?

It’s a mind game more than anything. The most important thing is not to panic, as often you're in deep water and panic creates so many problems for you and the divers around you. You have to become very comfortable being uncomfortable down there. It gets dark, it gets super disorienting. Sometimes when we’re digging, the silt gets so thick that you can’t even see the bright light of the team member you’re passing your bucket to. The only thing you hear is your breathing, your bubbles – it’s solemn, humbling. It puts things into perspective, especially the tomb, which is essentially an underwater grave. And then there are what we call the 'tomb jellyfish' – plastic bags that have blown into the water and float past you in the darkness or get stuck to your mask. They can be pretty scary.