Abstract
As a discipline that has grown up in the eyes of the camera, maritime and underwater archaeology has struggled historically to distinguish itself from early misrepresentations of it as adventure-seeking, treasure hunting and underwater salvage as popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. Though many professional archaeologists have successfully moved forward from this history through broader theoretical engagement and the development of the discipline within anthropology, public perception of archaeology under water has not advanced in stride. Central to this issue is the portrayal of underwater archaeology within popular culture and the representational structures from the 1950s and 1960s persistently used to introduce the profession to the public, through the consumption of popular books and especially television. This article explores representations of maritime and underwater archaeology to examine how the discipline has been consumed by the public, both methodologically and theoretically, through media. In order to interrogate this, we first examine maritime and underwater archaeology as a combined sub-discipline of archaeology and consider how it has been defined historically and in contemporary professional practice. Finally, we consider how practitioners can take a proactive approach to portray their work and convey archaeological media to the public. In this respect, we aim to advance the theoretical discussion in a way so as to reduce further cases whereby archaeology is accidentally misappropriated or deliberately hijacked.
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Notes
For a good general overview Flatman’s Becoming an Archaeologist (2011) describes these distinctions and career paths.
A good example of this approach can be seen in the development of national databases, such as the United Kingdom’s OASIS project, which has allowed for the establishment of national standards of recording and dissemination (Richards and Hardman 2008: 176).
See for example several academic programs or ‘centres for maritime archaeology’ which teach general application in underwater archaeology and which include submerged terrestrial archaeology in their remit.
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Gately, I., Benjamin, J. Archaeology Hijacked: Addressing the Historical Misappropriations of Maritime and Underwater Archaeology. J Mari Arch 13, 15–35 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-017-9177-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-017-9177-8