Maritime Cultural Landscape Research Articles

The Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Simulated Nuclear Battlefield at Bikini Atoll

The Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Simulated Nuclear Battlefield at Bikini Atoll

Correction: Ninteenth-Century Shipwrecks and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Gulf of Mexico

Correction: Ninteenth-Century Shipwrecks and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Gulf of Mexico

Isla del Fraile. Reconstructing Coastal Dynamics in Southeastern Spain Through Underwater Archaeological Survey

ABSTRACTA new archaeological research project analyses the history of Isla del Fraile (Águilas, Spain), a small island off the coast occupied since at least Roman times. Its isolation means that the sea has always conditioned its connectivity and relationship with land. Despite some underwater studies carried out in previous decades, its underwater surroundings, El Hornillo Bay, continue to be relatively unexplored. In parallel to the excavation work on the island's surface, an underwater survey was carried out in the area, which is known for its archaeological wealth. The objectives of this paper are to study the underwater contexts associated with the archaeological site, to determine whether there were any ports or anchorages and to analyse the phases of greatest activity in the bay between Antiquity and the Modern Age. New data are provided, and earlier finds, either previously unpublished or from private donations, are also reviewed. The findings are discussed and related to their local and interregional contexts. The main purpose is to offer a new contribution to the study of the maritime cultural landscape of the Western Mediterranean through a region underrepresented by research.

Shipyard Archaeology in the Southern Baltic

In the past two decades, the topic of archaeological studies of shipyard sites has regularly appeared in research devoted to maritime archaeology around the world. The closer attention of archaeologists to shipyard sites is due to the increased interest in studies of the maritime cultural landscape, ship graveyards, and coastal archaeology. The purpose of this paper is to review the problems of archaeological research of shipyard sites in the southern Baltic Sea and to compare these problems with previous research results from other regions. Seasonal or occasional sites for the building or repair of boats and ships have been created since the earliest times. Isolating such sites is often problematic since sleepers or simple wooden supports were sufficient for the construction of plank boats and the work was carried out in the open air. In the coastal cities of the southern Baltic, there is evidence for the existence of designated permanent shipbuilding yards, although without permanent shipbuilding structures, since the late Middle Ages. These were places in which a ship’s carpenter received permission from the city authorities to use a particular section of the yard for shipbuilding in return for an appropriate fee. Structures used for construction were assembled each time to a specific order from the builder’s materials and they could be dismantled after completion of the project. Archaeological research of the Gdansk Lastadia site remains the best recognized shipyard providing a more complete picture of the maritime cultural landscape of this southern Baltic city from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century.

Archaeological and Historical Evidence Reveal New Insights on the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Sea of Galilee

Archaeological and Historical Evidence Reveal New Insights on the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Sea of Galilee

Ninteenth-Century Shipwrecks and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico shifted from a colonial backwater to an active center of increasingly global maritime trade and commerce in the nineteenth century. This was due to the acquisition of the Gulf’s northern territories by the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the transition of the region and the seas surrounding it into an American territory and economic center. The shipwrecks and maritime infrastructure of the Gulf from that period are a cohesive maritime cultural landscape. That landscape, however, also includes elements and sites that are non-American, but which relate to the other groups and nationalities in the region, as well as shipwrecks associated with Gulf trade that wrecked or were lost outside the geographic boundaries of the Gulf of Mexico while in active trade.

Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World: Economy and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of Greece

Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World: Economy and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of Greece

Holocene relative sea level changes in the Västervik‐Gamlebyviken region on the southeast coast of Sweden, southern Baltic Sea

We reconstruct the Holocene shore displacement of the Västervik‐Gamlebyviken area on the southeast coast of Sweden, characterised by a maritime cultural landscape and archaeological significance since the Mesolithic. Sediment cores were retrieved from four lake basins that have been raised above sea level due to the postglacial land uplift and eustatic sea level changes after the melting of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The cores were radiocarbon dated and analysed for loss on ignition and diatoms. The isolation thresholds of the basins were determined using LiDAR data. The results provide evidence for the initiation of the first Littorina Sea transgression in this area at 8.5 thousand calibrated years before present (cal. ka BP). A relative sea level rise by ∼7 m a.s.l. is recorded between 8.0 and 7.5 cal. ka BP with a highstand at ∼22 m a.s.l. between 7.5 and 6.2 cal. ka BP. These phases coincide with the second and third Littorina Sea transgressions, respectively, in the Blekinge area, southern Sweden and are consistent with the final deglaciation of North America. After 6.2 cal. ka BP, the relative sea level dropped below 22 m a.s.l., and remained at ∼20 m a.s.l. until 4.6 cal. ka BP coinciding with the fourth Littorina Sea transgression in Blekinge. From 4.6 to 4.2 cal. ka BP, the shore displacement shows a regression rate of 10 mm a−1 followed by a slowdown with a mean value of 4.6 mm a−1 until 1.6 cal. ka BP, when the relative sea level dropped below 3.3 m a.s.l. The Middle to Late Holocene highstand and other periods of minor sea level transgressions and/or higher salinity between 6.2 and 1.7 cal. ka BP are attributed to a combination of warmer climate and higher inflow of saline waters in the southern Baltic Sea due to stronger westerlies, caused by variations in the North Atlantic atmospheric patterns.

Life at the Salty Edge of Empire: The Maritime Cultural Landscape at the Orange Saltpan on Bonaire, 1821–1960

The early modern history of the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire has to a large extent been influenced by its most valuable resource: solar salt. Through a multidisciplinary approach combining a landscape study, underwater and terrestrial archaeological surveys, and documentary research, the maritime cultural landscape of Bonaire’s southernmost saltpan is analyzed holistically, revealing new aspects of the lives of the people who lived and toiled there.

Under the Mediterranean I: Studies in Maritime Archaeology

Under the Mediterranean I: Studies in Maritime Archaeology

The cultural landscape and maritime identity of Szczecin: The past and present of a port city

This article analyses the maritime cultural landscape of Szczecin, a port city connected by a river and a lagoon to the Baltic Sea, although at a considerable distance from the coast. The natural landscape does not have elements that are typically associated with the sea, but the local cultural landscape consists of many objects with maritime motifs and symbols (in particular monuments and other material elements). The study shows that the maritime cultural landscape of Szczecin can be divided into several categories: the cultural heritage connected with the German past, the communist period and present day. In each of these periods, the emphasis was placed on other functions of the cultural elements of the maritime landscape while maintaining its maritime identity. The authors used a variety of methods and research tools. This study was based on analysis of found documents. Visual data analysis was also used.

A Life Less than Ordinary: The Schooner Ocean (1821\u20131865)

The East Winner Bank Shipwreck takes its name from the southern sandbank on Hayling Island near Portsmouth, UK. Examination of the wreck indicates a 19th-century carvel-built vessel. The sandbank is an active environment, meaning the wreck is rarely exposed to its full extent. Discussed here is work completed on the site before and during the social-distancing restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Documentary sources and previous detailed surveys suggest a possible identification for the wreck. The site appears to be an example of an everyday 19th-century coastal trading vessel, rarely explored archaeologically in the UK, with potential to contribute to discussions of the maritime technologies and maritime cultural landscape of regular folk. The investigation represents an excellent example of combining historical and archaeological data sets to further the interpretation of both sources, revealing details about the ship and its lasting impact on this stretch of coastline.

Maritimity and the maritime cultural landscape. Contribution of the “Any-artefact” model

À partir de l’analyse des différentes définitions données dans le domaine de la géographie et du patrimoine (avec le terme « maritimité ») ou celui de l’archéologie maritime (avec le terme « maritimity »), une proposition plus précise est apportée, articulée avec les concepts de « paysage culturel maritime » et de « lieu de savoir ». Le couplage avec le méta-modèle « Any-artefact », développé à Brest depuis 2012 (dans le cadre de travaux de recherche interdisciplinaires en histoire des techniques et humanités numériques), nous a paru pertinent pour rendre opérante cette définition dans le domaine de l’histoire et du patrimoine des paysages culturels maritimes, dans le sens où « Any-artefact » est dédié à l’étude comparée des paysages culturels portuaires en considérant que leurs formations et leurs évolutions sont le résultat des activités humaines.

Revealing a Maritime Cultural Landscape of Hong Kong: The Sai Kung Case Study

Hong Kong island is located in Southern China at the mouth of the Pearl River. Its coastal location down river from the significant port-city of Guangzhou (formerly Canton), is strategically located in the trade route known as the Maritime Silk Road, the 2,000-year-old trade between China, Southeast Asia, India and Arabia. It was because of this trade that the waters and islands at the Pearl River mouth were frequented by many nations, and where the Portuguese had their port-city, Macau from 1557, and the British were based on Hong Kong island from 1842. Over the next 60 years, the British leased further surrounding territories and the arrangement eventually led to the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, hereafter called the Hong Kong region. A significant maritime cultural landscape was built up, which included sites from earlier periods. An example of this maritime cultural landscape can be seen in the Sai Kung (eastern) district of the Hong Kong region. Many ships travelled along this coastline between the northern China ports and Guangzhou, and a number of coastal facilities were established. Beginning in 2009, a group of Hong Kong residents (Hong Kong Underwater Heritage Group) implemented a series of maritime archaeological projects in the Sai Kung district in collaboration with the Hong Kong Maritime Museum (HKMM). The results of this work can be seen in three maritime archaeology survey and excavation projects implemented from 2014 to 2017, including the discovery of a 1,000-year-old underwater cultural heritage (UCH) site. They complement the many coastal cultural heritage in the Sai Kung district to reveal its maritime cultural landscape.

Traditional ship construction in the Gulf of Lion and the Ligurian Sea: the tartane case study

This article deals with a type of coaster from the northwest Mediterranean called tartane. This emblematic coaster is generally presented as the most commonly utilised boat for cargo transport from the 16th century until the end of sailing ship coastal trade in this area at the very beginning of the 20th century. Although it is often described as a wide-bottom one-masted lateen ship, we can count at least four different rigging systems in various iconographic resources portraying tartanes, dating from 1679 to the very first decades of the 20th century. These diverse rigging systems reveal some developments to and influences on the tartane-type vessel, and they add complexity to our vision of a maritime cultural landscape in a coherent sailing space that includes the Gulf of Lion and Liguria.

Modelling the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Costiera Amalfitana: The First Three Seasons of Research (2016–2018)

Human activity along the Amalfi coastline in Italy has been tied to the sea for millennia – for sustenance, migration, trade, warfare, and leisure. As a result, this region has an equally rich and extensive maritime cultural landscape composed of tangible and intangible elements. In 2016, a multi-disciplinary project began efforts to model and to understand changes within this landscape, and this essay presents the preliminary results of our first three seasons of work. Some efforts, such as the documentation of maritime cultural heritage in local museums, archival work, and geomorphological research proceeded smoothly. Unexpectedly, however, little material from the pre-modern era was found under water, adding questions to this study that future work in the Marine Protected Area west of Positano may answer.

The Sea as a Hyperobject: Moving beyond Maritime Cultural Landscapes

Abstract An understanding of human mobility and cultural connectivity requires an accurate conception of that which facilitates maritime movement: the sea. The theory of “maritime cultural landscapes” has sought to address these questions from a landscape approach, and it is perhaps the most influential theory in maritime archaeology over the last thirty years. However, recent developments in philosophy challenge the cognitive-landscape theory underpinning the paradigm. This article examines these philosophies, the “flat ontologies” of Speculative Realism and Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and argues that they can be used to understand the sea as a new type of entity—a hyperobject. In this approach, the sea is not a landscape or facilitator of human activity but an entity of vast geographical and temporal scale that possesses agency. It argues for moving beyond idealist philosophies, such as cultural landscapes, toward the realist philosophy of OOO, including understanding the sea as a hyperobject.

A Lacustrine Cultural Landscape in the Prehispanic Basin of Mexico

This article provides a new application of Westerdahl's concepts of maritime cultural landscape and maritime cultures within the context of Mesoamerica, and more specifically during the Postclassic...

Mozambique Island, Cabaceira Pequena and the Wider Swahili World: An Archaeological Perspective

ABSTRACT When the Portuguese reached Mozambique Island at the end of the fifteenth century, they encountered a populated coast of diverse communities integrated within a wider Swahili world. Swahili society was in its fundamental nature cosmopolitan, and incorporated arts, cultures, peoples, and beliefs from Africa, India, the Middle East, and the Far East. Although Swahili archaeology is well established in Tanzania and Kenya, there is still little understood about northern Mozambique and its role in the Swahili world. This paper presents preliminary results from recent excavations on the northern coast of Mozambique, as well as interpretations from known archaeological sites, to better assess the nature of Swahili society on the northern Mozambican coast at the time of Portuguese first contact. This paper also raises questions about the nature of Swahili culture in northern Mozambique and its construction of a maritime cultural landscape centred around oceanic connection in the Indian Ocean Trade Network.

Shipwrecks and the Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Gulf of the Farallones

The waters of the Gulf of the Farallones are a diverse and expansive maritime cultural landscape that includes at least 400 historically documented shipwrecks. This article summarizes a multiyear scientific mission to assess shipwreck sites in the Gulf of the Farallones and nearby waters. A series of sites were identified not only through archaeological dive surveys, but also through newly available nineteenth-century archival records that speak to the value of using these sources in maritime archaeological research. In all, twelve sites were documented. The project characterized these sites within the parameters of a regional maritime cultural landscape.