Team

Matthieu Graux

Archaeological diver

Has worked with Franck Goddio since 2018. 

Matthieu studied chemistry at the University of Lyon before beginning his career in the precious metal refining industry. After a few years working as a chemist and pouring gold bars, he realized that working in a lab was not for him, and decided to leave France to travel the world, working as a divemaster along the way.
His journey led him to the Philippines, where he eventually settled, and first came into contact with the IEASM.

He now lives in Peru, where he’s involved with several land-based archaeology projects, including the search for the chincanas — a network of elusive underground tunnels under Cusco, once the capital of the Inca empire —  as well as the search for Paititi, a legendary lost city in the Amazon jungle.

“I feel privileged to be part of Franck’s team and to have the opportunity to excavate an ancient sunken city in Egypt, and search for shipwrecks in the Philippines. I couldn't dream of a better job.”

“One of my favorite finds underwater was a small fragment of broken ceramic. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary shard, the kind you find by the thousands in Heracleion, but when I turned it over, I realized it had inscriptions on it. It was an ostracon, bearing a text written in hieratic script. The ink was already fading rapidly, so we had to photograph it immediately upon surfacing to preserve the information. There’s something profoundly moving about holding something handwritten by someone over 2000 years ago.”