Challenges as Stepping Stones: Mexico’s Experience in Maritime Heritage Interpretation

Abstract

One of the challenges for Mexican underwater archaeology and its role in the research and preservation of the underwater cultural heritage is that not very many people know about its existence. Making information accessible to the public becomes an effective tool for educating people about the value of this legacy and the need to protect sites, both in marine and continental waters. In Mexico, a country with more than a 100 million inhabitants and a vast cultural patrimony, the task of doing so is enormous.

Another challenge has to do with divers. Cave diving has become a very popular activity in the Yucatan Peninsula, where thousands of cenotes and inundated caves contain significant cultural material. Among the strategies developed by the underwater archaeology division of INAH are working closely with fishermen and cave divers and dissemination through assorted means: official warning signs, itinerant exhibits, documentaries for the general public, and books directed to the youth.