When it comes to disappearing ocean history, HMAS Perth is the tip of the iceberg
There are critical issues facing our oceans, such as climate change and pollution, but one area often overlooked is the preservation of underwater history, writes PhD candidate Natali Pearson.
This Thursday is聽聽and so critical are the issues facing our oceans - including climate change and聽聽- that the United Nations has convened a聽聽on their future. While its focus is ocean conservation, another aspect of our seas has been conspicuously neglected: the vast array of human history lying underwater.
HMAS Perth memorialised at Sydney鈥檚 Garden Island Naval Chapel.聽Natali PearsonMillions of shipwrecks and archaeological sites lie under the ocean, including most infamously the聽, resting almost four kilometres below the North Atlantic. These relics are just as important as terrestrial sites such as the Egyptian pyramids or the temples of Angkor, and preserve a history of our relationship to the seas. Just like marine ecosystems, this underwater cultural heritage is threatened by climate change, pollution, development, fishing and looting.
Indeed just this week, Australian and Indonesian maritime archaeologists reported that HMAS Perth, a World War II wreck lying in the Sunda Strait and the final resting place for hundreds of men, has suffered聽. There is now less than half of the ship left.
Stories from the sea
Humanity鈥檚 close relationship with the ocean stretches back thousands of years. Our oceans have provided food, connected civilisations, facilitated trade, travel and conquest, and also served as a sacred place of veneration. It鈥檚 estimated that聽聽lie on the ocean floor.
These include a聽聽discovered off聽聽in 1998. The ship originated in the Middle East, and its cargo was dominated by commercial quantities of Chinese ceramics. It represents聽聽of maritime trade between Southeast Asia, the Chinese Tang dynasty and the Middle Eastern Abbasid Empire.
Nor are these vestiges of the past restricted to shipwrecks. Archaeologists have discovered聽, buried under silt and sand for centuries. In Egypt, relics of the ancient city of Alexandria include temples, palaces, and the 130-metre聽, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Egyptian authorities now聽聽to share these discoveries with a broader audience.
Sometimes, the smallest of objects discovered underwater can reveal as much as an entire city. Lost for centuries in waters off Crete, the 2000-year old Antikythera mechanism is known as the聽聽for its use of gears and dials to predict eclipses and track moon phases. The same site has also yielded聽, from which scientists hope to be able to extract genetic information for insights into ancient shipwreck victims.
The 2000-year old Antikythera mechanism is known as the聽world鈥檚 first computer. Image: Marsyas/Wikimedia Commons
聽- gathered by early breath hold divers and fashioned by artisans - found at a Mesopotamian site indicate that humans have been responding creatively to the ocean鈥檚 resources聽.
Underwater heritage is the legacy of these past activities, bearing witness to the development of both ancient and modern civilisations. But the significance of ocean artefacts extends beyond trade, travel and recreation. For example, the study of this heritage can show us the impact of rising sea levels on human life. Such information serves as a sobering reminder of the effects of climate change, and can also help us to聽聽we are facing.
Ulrike Gu茅rin from the UNESCO Secretariat of the 2001聽听别虫辫濒补颈苍蝉:
"For 90% of human existence, sea levels have been lower than they are at present. As humans mainly lived close to the water, a large majority of humanity鈥檚 development took place on areas that are now submerged. It is only within the past decade that there has been recognition of how important the missing data on the submerged shelf is."
Underwater cultural heritage can also help to assess the impact of the ocean on human life, and assist in monitoring issues such as聽聽from oil and the threat of聽聽from WWII shipwrecks. Gu茅rin argues that protecting and researching this heritage can lead to better conservation of coastal and marine areas, with increased economic benefits for聽听补苍诲听聽through tourism.
Sometimes, the smallest of objects discovered underwater can reveal as much as an entire city.
An ocean without history?
Like fish stocks and coral reefs, underwater cultural heritage faces destruction from聽,听听补苍诲听. Industrial activities like fishing are becoming a greater concern.
颁辞尘尘别谤肠颈补濒听聽destroy not only fishing stocks but also well-preserved wrecks. These bottom trawl nets act like ploughs, digging up the ocean bed and tearing archaeological sites apart. In the聽, thousands of synthetic fishing nets are lost every year. These聽聽get tangled in wrecks, trapping fish and seals in the process. In Southeast Asia, historic shipwrecks in both Malaysia and Thailand face destruction from聽.
Just as fishing stocks are targeted by illegal poachers, so too is underwater heritage threatened by illegal salvaging and looting. The recent unauthorized disturbance of three near-pristine Japanese shipwrecks in Malaysian waters has destroyed the thriving marine ecosystems that such wrecks support. The damage caused to these聽聽has had a聽聽on local diving companies and small-scale fishermen. In Indonesia, these illicit activities appear to be becoming聽, including the most recent damage to HMAS Perth.
Heritage in the margins
Despite its importance, underwater cultural heritage remains a relatively new concept, and tends to be overshadowed by other legal and policy priorities. At this week鈥檚 UN oceans conference in New York, plenary meetings are focusing on reducing marine pollution, protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, and addressing ocean acidification. Underwater cultural heritage, meanwhile, was discussed in a聽聽held in the margins.
The 2001 underwater heritage convention establishes basic principles for protecting these sites, but faces a number of challenges. Only 56 nations have聽, and big maritime nations such as the US, China, and the UK have not. Australia has not ratified, but introduced聽聽in November 2016 that brings this step closer. The heritage convention also faces the problem of perceived competition with the聽, which sets the rules for how the oceans are shared and governed.
And what of HMAS Perth? In a strange twist of history, in the 1970s the Australian Embassy in Jakarta became aware that the bell of the ship had turned up in an Indonesian salvage yard. The embassy successfully negotiated the bell鈥檚 exchange, and it is now held in the聽: a small piece of history saved through cultural diplomacy.
Underwater cultural heritage is an essential part of our oceans and the way we relate to them. As important as it is to ensure a sustainable future for our oceans, it is also vital that we understand humanity鈥檚 historical relationship with them. Our future is invested in our oceans, and so is our past.
is a聽PhD Candidate, Museum and Heritage Studies, in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. This article originally appeared on .
