Caribbean Underwater

Cultural Heritage:

Past, Present & Future

3rd Caribbean Conference

National Trusts and Preservation Societies

Willemstad, Curacao (15-20 November 2017)

Margaret Leshikar-Denton, PhD

What is Underwater Archaeology?

Archaeology is a branch of anthropology,

defined as the study of past peoples and

cultures through the objects they left behind

Underwater Archaeology

is simply archaeology performed in a

submerged environment – the goals of

research into the human past are the same and

methods of excavation and interpretation are

the same, only the tools are different

Specialized Tools and Approaches

enable scientists to work from the interface of

land and water to the deepest oceans

Underwater archaeologists work in often

challenging environments, including the ocean,

seas, bays, lakes, rivers, springs, marshes, and

cenotes, and their adjacent landscapes

A Range of Maritime Heritage Sites

Ships, Boats, Canoes, Local watercraft, Aircraft

Survivor’s campsites, Fishing-related areas

Navigational aids, Anchorages, Careening places

Ports, Harbors, Coastal settlements, Towns, Wharves

Shipbuilding sites, Coastal forts and defenses

Lighthouses, Bridges, Catastrophic sites

Eroded sites, Inundated terrestrial sites

And Places where cultural material was lost or

purposely deposited into the water

Lure of Treasure & Heritage Value

Sites often viewed for monetary value

Obstacle to preservation is lure of sunken treasure

Governments can be swayed by salvors into non-

beneficial schemes with promises of great profit

Profits seldom achieved, UCH lost forever

However, vulnerability to exploitation is diminishing

Lure of Treasure &

Heritage Value

Countries are implementing heritage programs

Museum exhibitions and preservation of sites in situ

provide countries with long-term profit

Historic preservation enhances a country’s tourism

product, provides enjoyment and education for the

public, and thereby appreciation and protection for the

heritage sites

LA & Caribbean

Regional Response

Latin American and Caribbean

Group (GRULAC) met in Santo

Domingo in 1998 & 1999

Support 1996 ICOMOS Charter

Wrote the Santo Domingo

Declaration

International

Response

Four meetings of Governmental

Experts in Paris in 1998, 1999,

2000 and 2001

Negotiated and adopted a draft Convention,

based on draft text by the International Law

Association (1994) and the ICOMOS Charter

developed by ICUCH (1996)

The 2001 UNESCO

Convention

Went into force on 2 January 2009 with the

instrument’s 20th ratification (Barbados)

There have now been 6 Sessions of the Meetings of

States Parties (two in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017)

And 8 Meetings of the Scientific and Technical

Advisory Committee (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,

2015, 2016, 2017)

19 Latin American and Caribbean

Countries have ratified (of 58 SP)

Panama (20/05/03)

Mexico (05/07/06)

Paraguay (07/09/06)

Ecuador (01/12/06)

St. Lucia (01/02/07)

Cuba (26/05/08)

Barbados (02/10/08)

Grenada (15/01/09)

Haiti (09/11/09)

Saint Kitts & Nevis (03/12/09)

Argentina (19/07/10)

Honduras (23/07/10)

Trinidad & Tobago (27/07/10)

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (08/11/10)

Jamaica (09/08/2011)

Antigua & Barbuda (25/04/2013)

Guyana (28/04/2014)

Guatemala (03/11/2015)

Bolivia (24/02/2017)

Principal Themes

Heritage Legislation

Heritage Management

Heritage Research

Meaning to Descendent

Communities

The Future

Help can come from beyond the

region, but sustainability must

come from within it

Government will

Cooperation

Training

Capacity building

Some Neighbors

with related History

Bermuda

Mexico

Panama

Florida

The Bahamas

Bahamas Abandoned Wrecks

Act (1965)

500 year-old Lucayan Canoe

(Bahamas Government & SC)

16th Century Highborn Cay

Wreck (INA)

16th Century St. John’s

Bahamas Wreck (salvors)

1656 Maravillas (salvors)

Turks & Caicos

Islands

Turks & Caicos Islands Historic

Wrecks Ordinance (1974)

1520s Molasses Reef Wreck

Slave Ship Trouvadore (1841)

(Troubador)

US Navy Brig Chippewa (1816)

Lucayan Paddle (AD 1100)

Cuba

Ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention in 2008

Laws No. 1 and No. 2 of 4 August 1977: Law for the

Protection of Cultural Heritage and Law of National

and Local Monuments

Specialized agencies and museums

“Cayo Ines de Soto site” (1555-56)

Many other UCH sites

Haiti

200 + shipwrecks in Haitian waters

Ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention in 2009

1995 Presidential Decree created the National Office of

Marine Archaeology (OFNAM) – is still not operational

Cooperation with French Nautical Archaeological

Research Group (GRAN)

Active in the UNESCO slave routes project

2014 UNESCO STAB mission recommends: investigate,

implement 2001 Convention, elaborate a national plan for

UCH, undertake capacity building, augment security &

surveillance of UCH, cooperate with all States Parties

Cayman Islands

Abandoned Wreck Law of 1966 (1997 Revision)

INA (1979-80) inventory of 77 sites, including

Turtle Bone Wreck and Duck Pond Careenage

Wreck of the Ten Sail: HMS Convert and 9 merchant convoy lost

in 1794 (1990s) - archaeology, exhibit, publication, etc.

Inventory of 140 UCH sites, including HMS Jamaica (1715) and

San Miguel (1730), and other terrestrial sites

No prehistoric sites discovered

Land-based Maritime Heritage Trail (2003)

Groundwork for Shipwreck Preserves

Advocating for sustainable CIMAP maritime archaeology program

Jamaica

Ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention in 2011

Institute of Jamaica (1879), Jamaica National Trust Commission

Act (1958), Jamaica National Heritage Trust Act (1985)

1692 Port Royal: Edwin Link & NGS (1950s), Marx (1960s),

Philip Mayes (1969), Texas A&M University & INA with JNHT

(1981–1990) - Dorrick Gray trained with TAMU & INA

Search for Columbus' caravels Capitana and Santiago de Palos

Six 18th-century merchantmen (1990s INA/JNHT)

Pedro Banks surveys for important early shipwreck sites

1983 building of a traditional Jamaican dug-out canoe

Terrestrial projects on colonial sites, sites of enslaved populations,

and at prehistoric Taino sites, many with maritime orientations

The Dominican

Republic

1979 Commission of Underwater Archaeological Rescue

Nuestra Señora de la Pura y Limpia Concepción (1641), Nuestra Señora

de Guadalupe and Conde de Tolosa (1724), the French warship Scipión

(1782), and the French ships Diómedes and Imperial (1806)

Museo de las Reales Atarazanas, Museo de Arqueología Submarina del

Faro a Colón, Museo de las Casas Reales

Headed 1998 and 1999 GRULAC meetings

400 shipwrecks in the waters of Hispaniola

Scientific projects: INA search for Santa María, Mariagalante, Gallega,

San Juan, and Cardera; IU&PATaino artifacts at Manantial de la Aleta;

PIMA “Monte Christi Shipwreck” (1652-1656)

Decree of 26 June 1999, created National Office for the Protection of the

Underwater Cultural Heritage, but today renewed threats to UCH

Puerto Rico

Underwater Archaeology Office, Council for the Conservation

and Study of Sites and Underwater Archaeological Resources

compiled inventory of 200 shipwrecks

Alicante (1881), Antonio López (1898), 17th-century “Rincón

Astrolabe Wreck”, 18th-century English warship,verified sites at

Mona Island, shipyard of 17th to 19th centuries, PT boat, two

aircraft: B-29 & PBY Catalina flying boat, Manuela, Cristobal

Colon

Puerto Rican Instituto de Investigaciones Costaneras (IIC), the

Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation (CMAC) at

TAMU, and INA collaborating on surveys: have located

important sites in an area where pre-Columbian settlements

existed and at least 66 ships have wrecked

The British

Virgin Islands

At last report, little attention had been

directed towards UCH, but there was hope

for change

National Park Trust Act Policy includes a

section on UCH

Anguilla

Historic Wrecks Advisory Committee in mid-1990s

1772 El Buen Consejo and Jesús, María y José

ICUCH and the ACUA advised, East Carolina

University surveyed, mapped, provided site analysis

University of Southampton identified 7 historic wrecks

Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society

promoting maritime heritage

Land-based Heritage Trail was created

Antigua & Barbuda

Ratified the 2001 Convention in 2013

Saint Kitts & Nevis

Ratified the 2001 Convention in 2009

Emphasis has been on land sites

At least 200 wrecks in the Basseterre Bay area that

should be protected and managed

National Conservation and Environmental

Management Act (1987) and the Merchant Shipping

Act (2002) afford some protection for UCH

18th-century British warship wreck in Nevis

Martinique,

Guadeloupe & Saint

Martin

Departments of France, operating under French laws

France ratified the 2001 Convention in 2013

GRAN (1991-1997) inventory in Martinique

Website presents the work that was accomplished

List of 90 ship losses between 17th and 20th Centuries

73 archaeological sites, 19 identified by the ship’s

name (Notre Dame De Bonne-Espérance 1687; HMS

Raisonable 1762; Le Cygne 1808)

The Dutch Islands

1992 Treaty of Malta extends to St. Maarten, St.

Eustatius, Saba, Curaçao, and Bonaire

Historical anchorage at Orange Bay, Saint Eustatius

HMS Proselyte wrecked in 1801

Historical anchorage and Dutch warship Sirene in

(1831) Bonaire

Dutch frigate Alphen (1778) in Curaçao

SS Mediator (1884) in Curaçao

Dominica

Focus has been on terrestrial heritage rather

than UCH

Hurricane Dean uncovered a shipwreck, and

there is interest in finding ways to protect and

manage this and other sites

Harbor survey of Roseau, Dominica

Saint Lucia

First Caribbean country to ratify the 2001

Convention in 2007

Hosted regional UNESCO meetings in 2003

and 2008

Saint Lucia & the Saint Lucia Archaeological

and Historical Society are leaders in advocating

for ethical protection and management of UCH

Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines

Ratified the 2001 UNESCO Convention in

2010

Many wrecks are located in the islands’ waters

Several major pieces of legislation that attempt

to protect local heritage

1997-1998 project on an 18th century wreck in

Kingstown Harbor

Barbados

Barbados ratified the 2001 Convention in 2008

2006 Preservation of Antiquities and Relics Bill

includes UCH

1998 Coastal Zone Management Act provides some

protection for shipwrecks

Barbados Museum and Historical Society is the

principal contact for issues related to heritage matters

Over 200 documented wrecks are located in the

waters of Barbados

Grenada

Grenada ratified the 2001 Convention in 2009

At least 174 wrecks may be located in

Grenada’s waters

A historical shipwreck site was reported to the

Grenada Government in 2009

Grenada has a plan in cooperating with France

to develop protected areas

Trinidad &Tobago

Ratified the 2001 Convention in 2010

French Louis XIV–period shipwrecks lost in a 1677

battle with the Dutch were discovered in Tobago

1994 UK-based Protection of Wrecks Act

1997 Technical Advisory Committee appointed

Plans to compile an inventory, review the 1994

legislation, and develop guidelines for permitting

19 LAC Countries (of 33) have

ratified – All others should now ratify t

Panama (20/05/03)

Mexico (05/07/06)

Paraguay (07/09/06)

Ecuador (01/12/06)

St. Lucia (01/02/07)

Cuba (26/05/08)

Barbados (02/10/08)

Grenada (15/01/09)

Haiti (09/11/09)

Saint Kitts & Nevis (03/12/09)

Argentina (19/07/10)

Honduras (23/07/10)

Trinidad & Tobago (27/07/10)

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (08/11/10)

Jamaica (09/08/2011)

Antigua & Barbuda (25/04/2013)

Guyana (28/04/2014)

Guatemala (03/11/2015)

Bolivia (24/02/2017)

A Course

for the Future

Our Tool Kit: The 2001 UNESCO

Convention and the 1996 ICOMOS

Charter

Specific national legislation should be

developed in tandem with these documents

Commercial exploitation of UCH should

be avoided

A Plan for the Future

Identify & train key persons

Place them in competent authorities to guide in identification,

protection, management, research, conservation, and

interpretation of UCH

Create sustainable regional and local programs and networks

Invite cooperation from overseas institutions and individuals

Preserve sites in situ as a first option, but empower museums to

interpret results of specialized archaeological excavation and

research on significant sites

Develop site inventories to make informed decisions about how

to protect and manage sites

Be aware that UCH treated in a sustainable way can provide

benefits to education, culture, and tourism

Unique

Responsibilities

Undertake archaeological excavation selectively, with

scientific objectives, adequate funding, professional

staff, and provisions for documentation, conservation,

curation, reporting, and public interpretation

Multidisciplinary and multi-institutional

collaborations should be encouraged

Regional and international cooperation

benefit everyone

Communication among governments, professionals,

and the public is essential

To Succeed

we must be

Creative,

Persevere, and

most of all,

Cooperate

Thank you!