Of time and tide : the complex impacts of climate change on coastal and underwater cultural heritage

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has documented wide-ranging changes to the world's coasts and oceans, with significant further change predicted. Impacts on coastal and underwater heritage sites, however, remain relatively poorly understood. The authors draw on 30 years of research into coastal and underwater archaeological sites to highlight some of the interrelated processes of deterioration and damage. Emphasising the need for closer collaboration between, on one hand, archaeologists and cultural resource managers and, on the other, climate and marine scientists, this article also discusses research from other disciplines that informs understanding of the complexity of the interaction of natural and anthropogenic processes and their impacts on cultural heritage.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A maritime archaeological conservation citizen science programme for individual benefit and good public outcomes: GIRT Scientific Divers

In Australia and New Zealand, a citizen science approach is being trialled to bring spatial scale and longevity to underwater cultural heritage monitoring programmes which are beyond the resourcing capacity of management agencies. Gathering Information via Recreational and Technical (GIRT) Scientific Divers is a no-impact maritime archaeological conservation-focussed citizen science programme that trains members to systematically document observable physical and natural features of underwater cultural heritage, in an open sea water environment, to understand the condition of a site and facilitate its protection and management. A key objective of GIRT is to encourage interested people, businesses, and groups to have an active and positive public (and community) archaeology role. This paper outlines GIRT, its methodology and andragogical teaching approach. Examples noting the significant effort required by members to participate, the need to emphasize the site survey’s scalability of activity, and the value of having included marine science in the methodology are highlighted

Building Capacity in the South West Pacific - The Norfolk Island Maritime Archaeological Association

The Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy administers the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 and the National Historic Shipwrecks Program. This Program enables the Department to work with the States, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island to protect historic shipwrecks.With the wealth of maritime history on Norfolk Island and the strong associations with Pitcairn Island, the potential for involving the broader community in documenting and protecting Norfolk Island's wonderful maritime heritage is significant. In 2010, at the request of the Norfolk Island Delegate, the first in a series of community focussed capacity building activities in maritime archaeology was conducted on the island. These activities resulted in the creation of the Norfolk Island Maritime Archaeological Association (NIMAA), Australia's newest maritime archaeology association.This paper briefly outlines the history of maritime archaeological associations in Australia and their engagement with management agencies. As a case study for other small island communities, the paper highlights some of the activities of NIMAA since its creation, issues faced for participants and the management agency and the potential for NIMAA into the future

A View from Across The Ditch: Public Engagement, Community Archaeology, Underwater Cultural Heritage Management and The Impact of GIRT Scientific Divers In New Zealand

In January 2019, the GIRT Scientific Divers citizen science programme was taught for the first time in New Zealand. GIRTs introduction to New Zealand was supported by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. In 2018 and 2019, GIRT initially encountered resistance by some individuals from the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group. Nevertheless, by 2020, GIRT has broadly been supported by the public and members in the Maritime Archaeological Association of New Zealand and the New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group. As of November 2020, GIRT has 30 members in New Zealand who to date have adopted 10 underwater archaeological sites and completed surveys of seven of those sites. This paper briefly reviews the history of public engagement, community-based archaeology and underwater cultural heritage management in New Zealand and contextualises the GIRT Scientific Diver citizen science programme within the framework of New Zealand public archaeology and avocational maritime archaeology groups, exploring what GIRT potentially means for community engagement and underwater cultural heritage management in New Zealand

Australia and Pacific Island countries: The need to collaborate to protect underwater cultural heritage

Of the 60 States who have ratified the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage to date, only three States in the Asia-Pacific Region have done so. The Convention is the international framework for working collaboratively to protect our shared underwater cultural heritage resource. This paper looks briefly at the three States in the Asia-Pacific Region who have ratified the Convention, the status of some Pacific Island States in regard to ratification of the Convention and in detail at the history of Australia’s consideration of ratification of the Convention. Further, the paper highlights global cultural and environmental threats to underwater cultural heritage and raises the need for immediate closer collaboration by all Pacific Island States and countries that border the Pacific to protect underwater cultural heritage regardless of their status of ratification

GIRT scientific divers citizen science programme: Volunteer motivations and characteristics

The no-impact maritime archaeological conservation-focused citizen science programme gathering information via recreational and technical (GIRT) scientific divers formally started in January 2019 and was designed and developed to encourage interested people, businesses, and groups to have an active and positive maritime archaeology management role. Initially launched in New Zealand and Australia, GIRT has expanded to include members in 9 countries. To better understand who is interested to participate in GIRT, why, and what it is they seek to get out of their participation, a survey was sent out to the first 119 people who undertook training. 100 people responded to the survey providing information about the demographics of participants, their background in heritage and protection, diving, science and conservation, and volunteering. Survey results show that GIRT is acting as a gateway into maritime archaeology for individuals who have never dived wrecks and for people interested in natural heritage

A public good conservation approach for underwater cultural heritage management through citizen science

To better understand the motivations, cultural heritage protection preferences, background, and characteristics of participants in the GIRT citizen science program, a survey was administered to 119 trained GIRT volunteers (SM Table 1). The survey started on 1 January 2019 and closed on 30 June 2020. A link to the survey was sent to all GIRT volunteers trained between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2020, who were invited to participate in the survey. 
 The 39-question online GIRT motivation survey was distributed through Survey Monkey and covered five main areas. Demographic information was included in the survey to understand the characteristics of the volunteers, to ensure that collected data could be interoperable, and to facilitate comparative analysis with other diver surveys. The survey also included other questions aimed at gaining a better understanding of individual participant background in volunteering, interest in heritage, support for the protection of heritage, and experience in science and conservation. 
 However, to ensure privacy, no individual is identifiable from the survey. The 39 questions were structured using four different possible responses: Five-point Likert scale (18), Yes/No responses (7), drop down selection (13), and one free text field for a numerical response. The initial purpose of each question is included in SM Table 1. The survey data were exported to SPSS 25 and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data