Maritime Culture in the Netherlands: accessing the late medieval maritime cultural landscapes of the north‐eastern Zuiderzee

This paper examines the theory and practice of the maritime cultural landscape in general, and projects the theoretical concepts and aspects involved on the highly dynamic late medieval north‐eastern Zuiderzee region in the Netherlands. The cultivation of land and marine erosion (floods and rising sea level) are considered as the main factors that caused the transformation of the physical landscape of this region from peatlands with freshwater basins into a tidal lagoon. As a consequence, multiple settlements drowned, large areas of land submerged, and culture and the landscape gradually became more maritime, giving the research area a cultural identity and dimension.     

Morgawr: an experimental Bronze Age‐type sewn‐plank craft based on the Ferriby boats

This paper reports on the construction of a full‐scale Bronze Age‐type sewn‐plank boat based on the Ferriby boats. The boat, which was named Morgawr, was constructed in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth, England, during 2012 and the first months of 2013, as part of a larger exhibition in the museum. This paper provides the background and context of the project, describes the process of building the craft, and reflects in particular on differences between Morgawr and the ‘hypothetical reconstruction of a complete sewn‐plank boat’ published in 1990 by Ted Wright and John Coates which formed the basis for this project.     

Education in Maritime Archaeology: The Egyptian Case Study

The investigation of archaeological sites of maritime nature started in Egypt more than a century ago, with the discovery of the Dahshur boats (Haldane 1998) and the ancient harbour of Pharos (Jondet 1912); however, education in maritime and underwater archaeology in Egypt is still in its infancy. This paper will look at the development of maritime archaeology in Egypt as a scientific discipline and the progress achieved to date in providing Egyptian archaeologists with education and training in aspects of maritime archaeology and underwater cultural heritage.     

Strategies for Teaching Maritime Archaeology in the Twenty First Century

Maritime archaeology is a multi-faceted discipline that requires both theoretical learning and practical skills training. In the past most universities have approached the teaching of maritime archaeology as a full-time on-campus activity designed for ‘traditional’ graduate students; primarily those in their early twenties who have recently come from full-time undergraduate study and who are able to study on-campus. The needs of mature-age and other students who work and live in different places (or countries) and therefore cannot attend lectures on a regular basis (or at all) have largely been ignored. This paper provides a case study in the teaching of maritime archaeology from Australia that, in addition to ‘traditional’ on-campus teaching, includes four main components: (1) learning field methods through field schools; (2) skills training through the AIMA/NAS avocational training program; (3) distance learning topics available through CD-ROM and using the Internet; and (4) practicums, internships and fellowships. The author argues that programs to teach maritime archaeology in the twenty first century need to be flexible and to address the diverse needs of students who do not fit the ‘traditional’ model. This involves collaborative partnerships with other universities as well as government underwater cultural heritage management agencies and museums, primarily through field schools, practicums and internships.     

Investigating archaeological site formation processes on the battleship USS Arizona using finite element analysis

Scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) worked in a collaborative partnership with archaeologists from the National Park Service's (NPS) Submerged Resources Center (SRC) to develop a finite element model (FEM) of the battleship USS Arizona. An FEM is a computer-based engineering model that calculates theoretical stresses, propagation of force, and shape changes to a structure under loads using thousands or even millions of individual elements whose individual responses are well understood. NIST researchers created an FEM of an 80 ft. (25 m) midships section of the Arizona site to analyze archaeological site formation processes on the sunken battleship, in particular to determine the current condition of the wreck and predict its future strength and structural integrity as it continues to corrode. The NIST's FEM study is one aspect of a larger project under the direction of the NPS, the USS Arizona Preservation Project, whose goal is to determine the nature and rate of corrosion affecting USS Arizona, and to model its long-term structural deterioration. The FEM incorporates findings from other key components of the USS Arizona Preservation Project, such as steel hull corrosion rates, structural surveys of the vessel, sediment compaction studies, and analysis of the concretion that covers the ship's hull, into a single tool that is being used to predict how the wreck will degrade in the future.     

Geographies of state failure and sophistication in maritime piracy hijackings

Many analysts are concerned about territories subject to state failure becoming safe havens for terrorists. In this article, I apply this logic to maritime piracy syndicates and their ship hijacking operations, and argue that a focus on the geographies of state failure can help us explain why pirates' behavior varies between failed and weak states. Analysis of a dataset of hijacking incidents suggests that state failure is associated with less sophisticated attacks, while state weakness encourages more sophisticated attacks. Through case studies of the process by which pirates carry out their attacks in East Africa and Southeast Asia, I argue that it is the differences in political and economic landscapes that influence how pirates embed their operations across territory, and thus how they carry out their operations. Notably, because they do not have to worry about enforcement, pirates in failed states can engage in time-intensive kidnappings for ransom, while only weak states provide the markets and transportation infrastructure necessary for operations where ships and cargo are seized and sold for profit. These findings suggest that weak states might actually be more problematic for international security in some respects than failed states.     

Isotopic evidence of dietary variability in subadults at the Usu-moshiri site of the Epi-Jomon culture,Japan

This study reconstructs adult and subadult diets of a hunter-gatherer population of the Epi-Jomon culture (approximately 2300–1700 years BP) in Japan, using the stable isotopic analysis of carbon and nitrogen. The results suggest that the Usu-moshiri adults were highly dependent on marine resources such as seals for their dietary protein intake and that no significant dietary differences existed between the sexes. Among subadults we found two types of diet on the basis of different isotopic signatures. One group consisted of individuals with δ¹³C values below than those of the adult female mean minus two standard deviations and δ¹⁵N values lower than those of subadults in the other groups. These low-δ¹³C subadults indicated relatively less enriched δ¹⁵N values by 3.5 years of age at the latest. They probably consumed more ¹³C-depleted foods during weaning than in the ordinary adult diet. In the other high-δ¹³C group, their enriched δ¹⁵N values start to decline by four years of age and fall within the two-standard-deviations range of the total adult mean around five to six years of age. Isotopic values of children in this high-δ¹³C group suggest that they would have been fed ordinary adult diets during weaning. Perinates could also be divided into two groups on the basis of the similar patterns in their carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios. Our results indicate variabilities in the diets of subadults, and similar variabilities were also seen in ethnographic studies of the Ainu populations.     

New models of North West European Holocene palaeogeography and inundation

This paper presents new 500 year interval palaeogeographic models for Britain, Ireland and the North West French coast from 11000 cal. BP to present. These models are used to calculate the varying rates of inundation for different geographical zones over the study period. This allows for consideration of the differential impact that Holocene sea-level rise had across space and time, and on past societies. In turn, consideration of the limitations of the models helps to foreground profitable areas for future research.     

Death by a Thousand Cuts: an archaeological assessment of souveniring and salvage on the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth (I)

In 2014, the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) received reports from recreational divers that the shipwreck site of HMAS Perth (I) was being systematically salvaged by commercial divers. After extensive discussions with Indonesian Government departments and agencies the ANMM led the first Australian/Indonesian remote sensing survey of Perth in December 2016. This was followed by an in‐water survey in May 2017. These investigations revealed Perth has been devastated by systematic, large‐scale unauthorized salvage. Following the survey, ANMM and its Indonesian research partner Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS), working in conjunction with the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, successfully lobbied the Indonesian Government to have the site declared Indonesia's first Marine Protected Area.     

Ritual Mutilation of Europeans on the Torres Strait Maritime Frontier

Passage through the Torres Strait during the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a dangerous exercise for European mariners. Apart from a maze of largely unmapped reefs, mariners had to negotiate passage through waters inhabited by resident Indigenous communities who had acquired a reputation for brutal attacks and cruel treatment of castaways. This paper explores circumstances behind the murder and mutilation of crew and passengers by Torres Strait Islanders from five ships attempting to transit the Strait – Shaw Hormuzear/Chesterfield (1793), Charles Eaton (1834), Thomas Lord (1846), and Sperwer (1869). Using anthropological recordings from the late 19th century, these mutilations are recast as acts of ritual processing explicable with reference to Torres Strait Islander ontology. The circumstances that coalesced to precipitate these mutilations were complex and rare and ultimately unrepresentative of the majority of frontier interactions between European mariners and Torres Strait Islanders, which were generally friendly and mutually beneficial.