Lyndel Prott, ed., Finishing the Interrupted Voyage: Papers of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Workshop on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Forrest
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage

scholarly journals A retrospective on the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-192
Author(s):  
Michelle M. Damian
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Asia Pacific Region ◽  
Regional Network ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Regional Conference

November 8th to 12th, 2011, marked the first targeted gathering of people involved in researching, managing, and developing underwater cultural heritage (UCH) in the Asia-Pacific region. Since then, the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage (APCONF) has been convened every three years, providing a unique opportunity to bring together members of government agencies, universities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), museums, the private sector, and the wider community. Participants from over 35 countries have attended the conference, making it a truly international endeavour. The APCONF was created in part to promote awareness of UCH on a wider scale. As such, one of the primary directives of the inaugural conference was to ensure that all papers presented would be recorded in full in the official conference proceedings, so as to establish an ongoing archive of the critical work being done in this region. This article will examine the wider benefits of creating this regional network through the APCONF, arguing that it provides an important venue for face-to-face networking that can lead to additional collaborations, and contributes to the understanding of how the conference may evolve in the future. The fact that the APCONF is not tied to a specific membership base provides not only unusual flexibility but also financial and infrastructural unsurety. The conference is organised by a group of dedicated volunteers and funded almost entirely by donations. As we stop to consider the first decade of the APCONF’s achievements, we also need to determine the best ways to ensure its sustainable future success.

scholarly journals Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia Pacific and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-38
Author(s):  
Chihiro Nishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Unesco Convention ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
Underwater Sites

Underwater cultural heritage (UCH) is a precious part of humanity’s shared history and heritage as it provides vital evidence and information about the interaction of humans with oceans, lakes and rivers. The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2001 to protect this heritage which has become significantly vulnerable to threats such as pillaging, commercial exploitation and the development of the seabed with the evolution of marine technology in the latter half of the 20th century. The Convention celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021 and has been ratified by 68 countries. Its annex, which provides rules about the activities directed at UCH, has become a major reference and is recognised as the established scientific standard for underwater archaeology and research today. Despite the growing recognition and application by the international community, the Convention has been ratified only by four countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Many underwater sites and shipwrecks have been commercially salvaged, particularly in Southeast Asia, and numerous artefacts recovered from the sites were often put up for auction, leading to irrevocable damage and loss of this valuable cultural heritage to future generations. This article as one of the themed articles dedicated to the UCH in Asia Pacific argues the roles of the Convention and the challenges and opportunities for the protection of UCH particularly in Southeast Asia. UCH contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and can play an important role in sustainable community and economic development. Its values and importance deserve to be widely recognised and advocated. Efforts for safeguarding cultural heritage in Asia Pacific needs to be pursued and enhanced through joining the 2001 Convention and with international support and cooperation.

scholarly journals Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia Pacific: Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Bill Jeffery ◽  
Chihiro Nishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Asia Pacific Region ◽  
Pacific Studies ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The 1960S

This 2021 themed issue of the International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies explores a diverse heritage of humanity found throughout the Asia-Pacific region – its “Underwater Cultural Heritage” (UCH). The study of UCH dates from the 1960s through the pioneering effort of Dr. George Bass and his work in the Mediterranean. Sadly Dr. Bass passed away in March 2021, but his legacy lives on in all of us who work in this field and in the community who benefit from the knowledge that he inspired to be revealed.

scholarly journals Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Pacific: Themes and Future Directions

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-168
Author(s):  
Bill Jeffery ◽  
Jennifer F. McKinnon ◽  
Hans Van Tilburg
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Atlantic Trade ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Galleon Trade

This article focuses on the underwater cultural heritage (UCH) located across the Pacific Ocean by sampling three temporal themes: living heritage and traditional indigenous cultural heritage, the global connections of the Manila Galleon trade, and the modern warfare of World War II (WWII). Many of the traditional cultural practices (living heritage) and tangible cultural heritage related to indigenous people of the Pacific are coastal and sea related. Their world encompasses the sea, which was not seen as a barrier as but a much-used connection to people occupying the thousands of islands. The Pacific contains an extensive maritime cultural heritage, including UCH, which reflects the cultural identity of people living in the region. From the 16th to 18th centuries, the Spanish Empire prospered through an elaborate Asia-Pacific trade network. The Manila Galleon trade between Manila, Philippines, and Acapulco, Mexico, connected into the existing Atlantic trade transporting commodities such as porcelain, silver, spices and textiles from Asia to the Americas and Spain. Of the 400 known voyages between 1565 and 1815, approximately 59 shipwrecks occurred, of which only a handful of galleons have been investigated. The scale of WWII heritage in the Pacific region reflects the intensity and impacts of global conflicts fought across the world’s largest ocean. Associated UCH includes near shore defensive infrastructure, landing and amphibious assault craft, submerged aircraft, and a wide range of ships and submarines, auxiliary, combatant and non-military casualties alike. Twentieth century warfare involved massive losses of material. The legacy of submerged battlefields in the Pacific is complex. Interest is high in the discovery of naval UCH, but critical aspects are often intertwined. Archaeology, history, reuse, memorialisation (gravesites), tourism, unexploded ordnance, environmental threat (fuel oil), ownership and salvage all shape what we can learn from this resource.

scholarly journals Making the Invisible Visible: Underwater Malta—A Virtual Museum for Submerged Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1558
Author(s):  
Timmy Gambin ◽  
Kari Hyttinen ◽  
Maja Sausmekat ◽  
John Wood
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Virtual Museum ◽  
Underwater Imaging ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
The Public ◽  
3D Photogrammetry ◽  
Underwater Sites

The seabed can be considered as the world’s largest museum, and underwater sites explored and studied so far provide priceless information on human interaction with the sea. In recognition of the importance of this cultural resource, UNESCO, in its 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, determined that objects/sites should be preserved in situ, whilst also advocating for public access and sharing. The implementation of these principles is not without difficulties. Some states have opened up underwater sites to the public—mainly through diving, yet the vast majority of the world’s population does not dive. In Malta, 7000 years of human occupation is reflected in and on the landscape, and recent offshore surveys show that the islands’ long and complex history has also left an indelible mark on the seabed. Besides difficulties related to their protection and management, these sites also present a challenge with regard to sharing and communicating. Recent advances in underwater imaging and processing software have accelerated the development of 3D photogrammetry of submerged sites and the idea for a virtual museum was born. The virtual museum, UnderwaterMalta, was created out of a need to share the plethora of underwater sites located on the seabed of the Maltese Islands. A multitude of digital tools are used to share and communicate these sites, offering visitors a dry dive into submerged sites that would otherwise remain invisible to the vast majority of the public. This paper discusses the basic principle of the sharing of underwater cultural heritage and the difficulties that beset the implementation of such a principle. A detailed explanation and evaluation of the methods used to gather the raw data needed is set in the context of the particular and unique working conditions related to deep water sites. The workings of this paper are based on first-hand experiences garnered through the recording of numerous wrecks over the years and the creation and launch of The Virtual Museum-Underwater Malta—a comprehensive virtual museum specifically built for “displaying” underwater archaeological sites that are otherwise invisible to the general public.

Maritime Claims and Underwater Archaeology: When History Meets Politics

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-131
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Aznar
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Law ◽  
South China ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Underwater Archaeology ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Archaeological Heritage ◽  
Territorial Claims ◽  
Legal And Ethical Issues

Abstract Among other circumstances relevant to maritime delimitations, some States have recently used the protection of underwater cultural heritage (UCH) as grounds for advancing jurisdictional or sovereignty claims over different maritime areas. After identifying the contours of current international law governing that heritage, this book critically addresses: first, the generally limited use of archaeological heritage in territorial claims; second, the broad acceptance by States of ‘archaeological maritime zones’ that overlap with declared contiguous zones; and, third, the (mis)use of UCH and underwater archaeology in three still disputed maritime claims, namely, Canada’s claim in Arctic waters, China’s in the South China Sea, and Russia’s in Crimea and its surrounding waters. Legal and ethical issues related to underwater archaeology are also discussed.

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