Underwater Cultural Heritage is Integral to Marine Ecosystems

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The physical remains of human activities in the ocean, collectively called underwater cultural heritage (UCH), serve as important seafloor habitats that are integral to the ecosystems around them. Shipwrecks and other UCH influence connectivity and dispersal of marine animals, impact local and regional biodiversity, and interact with physical and chemical processes. The interdisciplinary study of shipwreck habitats has great potential to advance maritime archaeology, marine biology, and the broader ocean sciences. Collaborations between marine biologists and maritime archaeologists are needed to address stressors affecting UCH and guide ecosystem-based management of these important historical and ecological structures. We present a framework for the emerging interdisciplinary field of Maritime Heritage Ecology and provide case studies to demonstrate how shipwreck research can inform management questions in a changing ocean.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow