Citizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagement for Heritage Monitoring and Protection

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Citizen Science in Maritime Archaeology: The Power of Public Engagement for Heritage Monitoring and Protection," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Citizen science, pioneered in the fields of biology and geography, utilizes volunteers to collect and process data. And to answer the call of stakeholder satisfaction and active public outreach and engagement, citizen science has recently been championed as a potentially powerful activity for maritime archaeology. As the volunteers become trained to understand the scope, goals, and outcomes of the research, they also become active participants—or partners—in the scientific inquiry (Haklay 2013; Smith 2014). The infrastructure for citizen science already exists in maritime archaeology with field schools, avocational training, site stewardship, donor support, and community archaeology (Smith 2014). Citizen science can go beyond academic training and engage participants in the scientific experience, while also providing for recourse to respond to local conditions and collaborate on requirements and policies specific to a site and/or region. This symposium explores the use and potential of citizen science in maritime archaeology in varied forms and outcomes.