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Cooperation is the Key: We Can Protect the Underwater Cultural Heritage

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Abstract

The 2001 UNESCO Convention represents the will of the international community to establish a legal instrument specific to the world’s threatened underwater cultural heritage. This article introduces its history and purpose, and the geographical distribution of ratifications. It highlights UNESCO’s facilitating role and advocacy for the Convention, and the initiatives of the ICOMOS International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage, the Society for Historical Archaeology, and the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology in support of its development, ratification, implementation, and the adoption of its Annex as a “best practices” document, even where ratification is unlikely. It provides a context for articles that follow.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. P.O. Box 30702, Grand Cayman, KY 1–1203, Cayman Islands

    Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton

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  1. Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton
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Correspondence to Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author in her individual capacity and do not necessarily reflect the views of the affiliated organizations.

Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton—Ships of Discovery, Corpus Christi, TX; ICUCH, SHA, ACUA.

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Leshikar-Denton, M.E. Cooperation is the Key: We Can Protect the Underwater Cultural Heritage. J Mari Arch 5, 85–95 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-010-9068-8

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