As Dominican historians had suspected, the shipwreck discovered in May 2014 is not the Christopher Columbus flagship Santa Maria, as claimed by US sea explorer Barry Clifford.
The Haitian government had requested technical assistance from UNESCO’s 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage Scientific and Technical Advisory Body, which rejected the methods proposed by Clifford to perform underwater excavations and stated that the team Clifford had proposed for the work was not qualified.
The UNESCO team of experts found copper artifacts at the site and said this indicated the shipwreck was from a later date.
Following UNESCO’s recommendations, the Haitian government rejected the explorer’s thesis and no longer authorizes him to continue underwater excavations.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/unesco-report-wreck-off-haiti-santa-maria-25990308