Maritime Archaeology Overview

Principles

Definition

Maritime archaeology is a specialized field within archaeology dedicated to the systematic investigation of human interaction with the sea, lakes, and rivers across time. It encompasses the study of material remains such as shipwrecks, submerged landscapes, port structures, coastal settlements, and associated artifacts to reconstruct past lifeways, technologies, trade networks, migration patterns, and human adaptation to aquatic environments.

Ontological type

Core Methods

Material Evidence

Ancient Trade Networks

Key developments

Key Figures

Landscape and Wreck Integration era

Christer Westerdahl [1] is a central figure in this era, associated with Umeå University [3] and the University of Copenhagen [4]. His key contribution was articulating the maritime cultural landscape through The maritime cultural landscape [7], a shift that linked wrecksites with shoreline dynamics and landscape change, essential to the era's integrated approach. Heather McKillop [2] was associated with the University of California, Santa Barbara [5] and Louisiana State University [6] during this period. Her contributions included Underwater Archaeology, Salt Production, and Coastal Maya Trade at Stingray Lagoon, Belize [8] (1995) and Ancient Maya Trading Ports and the Integration of Long-Distance and Regional Economies: Wild Cane Cay in South-Coastal Belize [9] (1996), advancing underwater archaeology and trade-network perspectives central to landscape-scale integration.

Seascape and Connectivity Paradigm era

Ian J. McNiven [1] is a prominent scholar associated with The University of Melbourne [3] and the University of Arizona [4] in this era. His key contributions in this era include Saltwater People [7], Ritually Orchestrated Seascapes [8], and Mask Cave [9], which reframed maritime archaeology as social networks and ritual landscapes rather than isolated artifacts, thereby grounding seascape thinking in Indigenous seascapes and long-distance exchange. Geoff Bailey [2] is associated with University of York [5] and Newcastle University [6] during this era. His paper Archaeology of the continental shelf: Marine resources, submerged landscapes and underwater archaeology [10] advances the continental shelf as a key arena for understanding connectivity and resource use in seascape archaeology, reinforcing the seascape paradigm by treating shelf zones as dynamic social and economic spaces.

Digital Oceanic Synthesis era

Antonio Lagudi [1], affiliated with the University of Calabria [3], emerges as a leading figure in maritime digital archaeology during the Digital Oceanic Synthesis era. Lagudi [1]'s contributions include Project VISAS: Virtual and Augmented Exploitation of Submerged Archaeological Sites‑Overview and First Results [4], The CoMAS Project: New Materials and Tools for Improving the <i>In situ</i> Documentation, Restoration, and Conservation of Underwater Archaeological Remains [5], and a digital reconstruction of the sunken “Villa con ingresso a protiro” in the underwater archaeological site of Baiae [6], marking a shift toward immersive, data-driven underwater heritage analysis. Fabio Bruno [2], also linked with the University of Calabria [3], extended these digital methodologies by co-authoring Project VISAS [4], The CoMAS Project [5], and a digital reconstruction of the Baiae site [6], reinforcing a collaborative model for open, interoperable underwater heritage data. Bruno [2] and his affiliation with the University of Calabria [3] helped accelerate the era's trajectory toward open collaboration and immersive visualization through the cited projects Project VISAS [4], The CoMAS Project [5], and Baiae reconstruction [6], underscoring why these contributions mattered for Digital Oceanic Synthesis.