Salt works along the Yucatan coasts of Mexico and Belize provide a record of salt production for inland trade during the height of Late Classic Maya civilisation (AD 550–800). At the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize, production focused on the creation of salt cakes by boiling brine in pots supported over fires in dedicated salt kitchens. Underwater excavations at the Early Classic (AD 250–550) site of Jay-yi Nah now indicate there was a longer and evolving tradition of salt making in the area, one that initially employed large, incurved bowls to meet local or down-the-line trade needs before inland demand for salt soared.

This terrestrial and underwater archaeological research project around a Mediterranean islet identifies that it was a commercial centre during the fifth century AD. The results shed light on Late Roman island occupation dynamics.

Underwater archaeology is of great significance for historical and cultural transmission and preservation of underwater heritage, but it is also a challenging task. Underwater heritage is located in an environment with high sediment content, objects are mostly buried, and the water is turbid, resulting in some of the features of objects missing or blurred, making it difficult to accurately identify and understand the semantics of various objects in the scene. To tackle these issues, this paper proposes a global enhancement network (GENet) underwater scene parsing method. We introduce adaptive dilated convolution by adding an extra regression layer, which can automatically deduce adaptive dilated coefficients according to the different scene objects. In addition, considering the easy confusion in the process of fuzzy feature classification, an enhancement classification network is proposed to increase the difference between various types of probabilities by reducing the loss function. We verified the validity of the proposed model by conducting numerous experiments on the Underwater Shipwreck Scenes (USS) dataset. We achieve state-of-the-art performance compared to the current state-of-the-art algorithm under three different conditions: conventional, relic semi-buried, and turbidified water quality. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs best in different situations. To verify the generalizability of the proposed algorithm, we conducted comparative experiments on the current publicly available Cityscapes, ADE20K, and the underwater dataset SUIM. The experimental results show that this paper achieves good performance on the public dataset, indicating that the proposed algorithm is generalizable.

Underwater archaeological research has been developed less aggressively in Malaysia than in other ASEAN partner countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In past decades, financial constraints have limited the development of underwater archaeology, and the field has been dominated by commercial salvage experts. Malaysia has not addressed many issues or fundamental problems related to future development. The discovery of the Bidong Shipwreck in 2013 has raised hopes that underwater archaeological research in Malaysia will develop more dynamically. The successful excavation of this shipwreck site proves that local experts can conduct scientific excavations. This article presents and discusses the discovery and process of excavating artifacts from the Bidong Shipwreck. The project outcomes provide a guide for stakeholders and agencies involved in future underwater excavations in Malaysian waters.

Archaeological investigation of Circum-Alpine lake, or pile, dwellings has afforded unprecedented insight into Neolithic and Bronze Age societies. The discovery in 1989 of a submerged settlement near Rome added an early (eighth millennium BP) geographical outlier to this distribution. Two decades of excavation at La Marmotta have identified more than a dozen dwellings and an enormous assemblage of organic remains. Here, the authors present an overview of the textiles, basketry and cordage recovered, and the tools used to manufacture them. The assemblage paints a more complete picture of the technological expertise of Neolithic societies and their ability to exploit and process plant materials to produce a wide range of crafts.

The authors discuss new sediment coring at the Early Neolithic submerged site of Atlit-Yam, Israel, that reveals stratified archaeological deposits 0.7–0.9m below the seabed. They demonstrate the potential of micro-geoarchaeological analysis to generate new chrono-stratigraphic data for the onset of Early Neolithic coastal occupation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Salt is an essential commodity; archaeological remains around the world attest to the importance of its production, exchange and consumption. Often located in coastal locations, many production sites were submerged by rising seas, including the Paynes Creek Salt Works on the southern Belize coast. Survey and excavation of these sites has identified ‘kitchens’ for brine boiling, as well as Terminal Classic residential structures at Ek Way Nal. The authors report the discovery of an earlier residential building alongside salt kitchens at the nearby site of Ta'ab Nuk Na. This finding indicates that surplus household production began during the Late Classic, when demand for salt from inland cities was at its peak.

There is a lack of broad representation in archaeology generally, and in a specialized field such as underwater archaeology, this issue is only exacerbated. Underwater archaeological sites are often “out of sight, out of mind,“” creating a general lack of awareness of underwater cultural heritage and career prospects in many communities. Coupled with a lack of education and the additional demands of working in a submerged environment (e.g., scuba diving), there is a striking lack of diversity in underwater archaeology. Overall, underwater archaeologists are a largely homogeneous group, particularly along the lines of race and wealth—categories that often overlap. In the context of asking broader questions such as “Why are there so few underwater archaeologists of color?” and “How can we do better?” this article outlines the barriers to inclusivity writ large in underwater archaeology and provides solutions for increasing diversity and accessibility in the field, including specific opportunities and resources for underrepresented groups to “get their feet wet.”

As the Inca Empire expanded across the South American Andes during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD, Lake Titicaca became its mythical place of origin and the location of a pilgrimage complex on the Island of the Sun. This complex included an underwater reef where stone boxes containing miniature figurines of gold, silver and shell were submerged as ritual offerings. This article reports a newly discovered stone offering box from a reef close to the lake's north-eastern shore. The location, content and broader socio-cultural context of Inca sacrifices are examined to illuminate the religious and social meaning of underwater ritual offerings at Lake Titicaca.

Artificial islets, or crannogs, are widespread across Scotland. Traditionally considered to date to no earlier than the Iron Age, recent research has now identified several Outer Hebridean Neolithic crannogs. Survey and excavation of these sites has demonstrated—for the first time—that crannogs were a widespread feature of the Neolithic and that they may have been special locations, as evidenced by the deposition of material culture into the surrounding water. These findings challenge current conceptualisations of Neolithic settlement, monumentality and depositional practice, while suggesting that other ‘undated’ crannogs across Scotland and Ireland could potentially have Neolithic origins.

Jadeite artefacts at Maya sites are normally associated with ritual and ceremonial locations, with high-quality jadeite reserved for elite objects. The discovery of a jadeite gouge with a wooden handle at a Classic Maya salt-working site submerged by sea-level rise—Ek Way Nal, Belize—is therefore unexpected and provides new information about the utilitarian use of this stone. The extremely high quality of this jadeite tool is particularly surprising, offering new insight into the Classic Maya exchange systems and the role of salt makers such as those based at Ek Way Nal.

Archaeological sites in Croatia's shallow waters are mentioned in written sources from the sixteenth century, and since the eighteenth century they have been used as evidence for the sinking of the Eastern Adriatic coast. It was at the end of the same century that the first Roman shipwreck in Croatian waters was reported. Sponge divers and coral hunters raised archaeological finds from the seabed off the Croatian coast, thus contributing to the creation of many private and monastic collections. Isolated campaigns aimed at protecting underwater cultural heritage began in the 1950s, and by 1970 these efforts became part of a well-organized system. Although the lack of systematic research remains notable, a number of surveys and rescue excavations have enriched our knowledge of ancient seafaring along the Croatian coast and have contributed to the study of the maritime environment. Some well-preserved shipwrecks from classical antiquity and the modern era show excellent potential for the in situ protection and presentation of Croatian underwater cultural heritage.

Underwater archaeology took off from 1950 following the invention of the aqualung by two Frenchmen. In 1966, France became the first country with a specialized organization for underwater archaeology (DRASSM (Département des Recherches Archéologiques Subaquatiques et Sous-Marines)). The evolution of French law has provided strong protection for this heritage. Over the last 40 years, DRASSM has identified several thousands of wrecks and has managed the excavation of many of them. Currently, DRASSM has been given a new lease of life, with a service enhanced by young recruits, new buildings, and a technologically advanced research vessel.

Studies in submerged prehistoric archaeology have gained momentum in recent years with particular focus on the inundated landscapes of the European continental shelf. Although this renewed interest lies primarily in modern coasts and seas, there are a variety of differences between the submerged prehistoric archaeologies of inland and marine environments, ranging from questions of scientific research to heritage management to practical field methods. Some of these differences are the result of location, function, and period. Despite this, there exist similarities that, if ignored, risk increased marginalization of the archaeology of submerged landscapes from the greater field of prehistoric archaeology. A holistic evaluation of prehistoric archaeological landscapes must include inland waters and coastal zones and their relationships. Aquatic environments, viewed both as individual locations as well as continuous and connecting waterways, are introduced for their differences and similarities, and simplified examples of material and legislation are introduced in order to contextualize submarine sites and practices within the greater fields of prehistory and underwater archaeology.