| Abstract: |
England’s marine and maritime heritage has long provided a focus for archaeological and historical research. The first article in the journal Antiquity reported on the submerged field boundaries lying in shallow waters around the isles of Scilly, indicating an awareness of the importance of what lies beneath the water’s edge. However, despite this early engagement with the subject, and England’s historical dependency on the sea, it has taken some time for regulatory powers and sustained research to venture into this area. In 2002 the National Heritage Act served to change this, bringing England’s marine and maritime historic environment into a clear regulatory framework. In response to this new remit, English Heritage commissioned the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton to bring together the broad community of scholars interested in marine and maritime affairs (be they working in academia, industry or a-vocationally), to help both quantify the known record and to establish a clear research agenda for the future. This publication represents the efforts of all members of this community to do so. Eight of the ten chapters presented here provide period-specific accounts of the known archaeological record, spanning nearly a million years of hominin occupation from the Palaeolithic through to the present day. Additional sections examine fields such as marine geoarchaeology and environmental archaeology more broadly. Since this is the first time any such review has been undertaken for the maritime sphere, it represents a valuable resource to students, researchers, those in development-led archaeology, curators and the public alike. Furthermore, given the scope and nature of archaeological research, it will be of relevance to historians, Quaternary scientists, archivists, and museum practitioners. Each chapter draws on five distinct themes to generate a thorough characterisation of the diverse topics connected to the maritime and marine historic environment:1 Coastal Change2 Maritime Settlement and Marine Exploitation3 Seafaring4 Maritime Networks5 Maritime Identities and Perceptions of Maritime Space.These themes reflect the variety of established regional and thematic research frameworks, from Industrial Archaeology (Palmer 2005) and built environment strategies to the international North Sea Prehistory Research and Management Framework, with which research into the maritime record intersects, and the ways in which since early prehistory the maritime sphere has been entangled in all aspects of human life in England. Given this broad scope, the resource assessment within each chapter is not intended to be definitive but serves to characterise research so far undertaken. As such, it is important that the material in each chapter, and the research questions raised, are considered in conjunction with the more detailed regional frameworks and the rapid coastal zone assessments. Importantly, the chapters in this volume also demonstrate how rich and diverse the maritime record is, and the primary contributions research into it can make to our interpretations of the past. |
