What Is Maritime Heritage?

Humans have been interacting with the ocean, inland seas, lakes, and rivers for thousands of years for food, trade, migration, transportation, recreation, warfare (and other conflicts), exploration, and more. Maritime heritage is a broad term for the historical and cultural resources and practices that help us understand these interactions and how they reflect society’s social, economic, geographic, and cultural development.

Maritime heritage includes:

• Archaeological sites and artifacts — like shipwrecks and their cargo, sunken aircraft, remains of ancient cultures (e.g., paleolandscapes, shell middens/refuse sites, fish ponds).
• Features of maritime landscapes — like working waterfronts, lighthouses, shipyards, watercraft, and places with traditional cultural significance (indigenous sacred places, fishing grounds).
• Cultural practices and knowledge — like rituals, festivities, language, stories, and traditional ecological knowledge.

Maritime heritage resources are found on shore and underwater. Some underwater resources are considered underwater cultural heritage , defined by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as “all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character which have been partially or totally under water, periodically or continuously, for at least 100 years.”

Maritime archaeology, the scientific study of the physical remains (e.g., sites, vessels, structures, artifacts) that represent our maritime heritage, helps us better understand this heritage.

“Maritime heritage,” “underwater cultural heritage,” and “maritime (marine) archaeology” are often used interchangeably.

Maritime heritage gives us a glimpse into the lives of our predecessors. It helps us understand and appreciate our past — in terms of history, culture, and the environment — so we can learn from it and better prepare for our future.

It can help us understand:

• The who, what, when, where, and how of human settlement and experience.
• How societies and their environments changed over time.
• How nature and humans shaped maritime landscapes.
• Historical events (e.g., battles).

Shipwrecks, paleolandscapes, and other underwater resources are the focus of NOAA Ocean Exploration’s maritime heritage work. Some of these resources become habitat, providing surfaces for marine organisms to settle on and influencing biodiversity at the site and beyond. And, if not too deep or remote, they can provide recreational value to divers.

Maritime heritage is an interdisciplinary field that includes historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, as well as biologists and engineers. They use a variety of tools to search for and study underwater resources, including sonar, magnetometers, and sub-bottom profilers to locate targets; technical diving and submersibles to explore them; and conservation studies and photogrammetry to study and monitor them.

For preservation purposes, these resources are typically left undisturbed in their final resting places, but threats remain (e.g., storms, currents, earthquakes, landslides, corrosion, shipworms, looting and salvage, and irresponsible fishing and diving practices). And, they too may pose threats: they may cause damage at their impact sites and facilitate the spread of invasive species, and fuel and dangerous cargo (e.g., chemicals and munitions) can have disastrous environmental consequences. To protect and manage these nonrenewable resources — underwater and on shore — maritime heritage programs have been established around the world.

 

There’s no single, commonly accepted definition of maritime heritage. With this fact, NOAA Ocean Exploration is not defining the term, but has adapted a number of definitions to illustrate its use of the term.