Our Blue Planet: An Introduction to Maritime and Underwater Archaeology is a long-awaited, much-needed, up-to-date textbook for archaeological professionals. This comprehensive, well-organized compilation is a significant new resource for those in academia teaching the next generation of students, cultural resource management practitioners working with heritage stewards, or citizen scientists in this area of specialization. It combines the usual textbook offerings of theory, history of the discipline, and methods taught in the maritime archaeology discipline. In contrast to other textbooks, however, this book features older iconic underwater archaeology projects around the world from antiquity, as well as newer projects up until World War II. A valuable addition is the attention paid to maritime cultural resource management in which most underwater archaeology university graduates find careers. The three coauthors, each with diverse experiences in the profession, ambitiously and successfully cover a broad swath of topics on submerged and coastal sites. Jessi J. Halligan specializes in the geoarchaeology of inundated landscapes and the peopling of the Americas. Alexis Catsambis has a wealth of experience in naval heritage management. Ben Ford specializes in maritime and historical archaeology, with significant publications on shipyards and maritime landscapes. Their collective experience and skill sets are complementary and robust.
The book addresses critical elements such as methodologies, interpretations, key concepts and terms, and best practices. Each chapter is well illustrated, with compelling case studies revealing the multifaceted character of the field along with its physical and intellectual challenges. The questions—the same ones precede each chapter—are thought provoking and provide a platform for continued discussion or application to a research topic; they are simple, direct, and free of heavy theoretical jargon. The authors innovatively demonstrate different ways of using data to answer these questions. In sum, this format highlights one of the most central concerns that students grapple with—what exactly can we learn from maritime archaeology, and how?
As is the case for other popular texts, the authors discuss several well-known case studies, including the technology and hull design of the Serce Limani, which sank in AD 1025 off the coast of Turkey while transporting three tons of glass; the Snow Squall clipper ship, which ran aground and sank in the Falkland Islands in 1864; the Cutty Sark clipper ship, launched in 1869 and retired to a dry dock in Greenwich, England, in 1954; and the early modern iron-hulled vessel, the SS Great Britain. Maritime archaeologists have also studied sunken port cities like the Alexandria of ancient Egypt, Caesarea Maritima in Israel, and the historic hub of Caribbean commerce at Port Royal in Jamaica. Major shipwreck sites associated with early underwater archaeology initiatives, like the Uluburun ship found by a sponge diver in 1982 off the coast of Turkey that yielded significant information about complex Late Bronze Age trading networks, are featured as highlights.
One of the useful topics not often addressed in older maritime archaeology textbooks is climate change and coastlines. As the authors succinctly explain, the shore is not a fixed boundary. We can learn through maritime archaeology how communities adapted to shrinking or expanding coastlines in ways that altered their diets, movements, and houses. Case studies considered in the book include the abandoned nineteenth-century California Gold Rush ship Niantic, which later served a secondary use as a warehouse in San Francisco, and the Ronson ship, an eighteenth-century merchant ship excavated underneath Water Street in New York City. The authors note that maritime archaeologists analyze microfossils in sediment cores to study past shorelines, and paleoenvironmental scientists examine isotope ratios to understand past climates and environments. One of the messages from considering these case studies is that maritime archaeologists may benefit from forming interdisciplinary research project teams.
It is refreshing to see discussion of the impacts of garbage, pollution, and human actions on aquatic environments. This theme might have been expanded, with further consideration of both the environmental benefits and harms of submerged historic cultural resources. Although mentioned briefly, there is a large literature about the global risks of World War II shipwrecks, oil spills, and iron leaching from the hulls of ships that adversely affect surrounding reefs. By contrast, some shipwrecks are productive breeding habitats for certain species and serve as educational, lacustrine, riverine, and marine resources that enhance community tourism investments. There could also have been more discussion of shipwreck sanctuaries, interpretive trails, and preserves accessible to walkers, horse riders, kayakers, and divers. Because most students from academic maritime archaeology programs enter the profession as maritime cultural resource managers, the chapters in Part IV addressing career options and introducing examples of public archaeology, advocacy, legislation, management, and the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Heritage are an outstanding addition.
Very importantly, the authors of Our Blue Planet emphasize the important concept that maritime archaeology has counterpart terrestrial components that should not be neglected. For example, the study of submerged sites in maritime archaeology can and should include considerations of coastal community structures and businesses that support seafaring, such as shipyards, sail and rope makers, brothels, boardinghouses, taverns, fortifications, and warehouses: these are all elements of broader maritime landscapes. This consideration of underwater and associated terrestrial sites is a refreshing departure from sunken ships and cargo being the sole focal points of maritime archaeology.
Although there is considerable attention in the book paid to iconic warship sites like the Mary Rose from sixteenth-century England and the short-lived seventeenth-century Vasa shipwreck in Sweden, there are also references to studies of vernacular boats such as Native American watercraft and Polynesian double canoes, fisheries, whaling, and marine resource extraction camps. I especially enjoyed Chapter 10, which focuses on maritime material culture of shipboard life and themes of subcultures, gender, ethnicity, and hierarchy. Tattooing, art, games, music, and reading entertained sailors at sea, and although these activities are not always evident in the archaeological record, the authors explain that they can be reconstructed using a combination of ethnography, archaeology, and history.
Overall, the book is very impressive, but with some shortcomings. Although the textbook is richly illustrated, several images are not sourced or cited. The book is heavily populated with case studies from Europe and the United States but fewer from other world areas. Many women who have made significant contributions to maritime archaeology for decades do not receive attention relative to the number of men showcased in the book, and publications by women are underrepresented in references cited at the end of each chapter. These additions would help inspire women to enter the field and give them a more balanced perspective of gender demographics in maritime archaeology. It would also be pleasing to see the work of more scholars of color mentioned, especially from Africa and the Caribbean. The challenge to produce a follow-up text awaits our next generation of scholars.
