The Archaeology of Coastal and Maritime Communities

Dear Colleagues,

Within archaeology, the sea is frequently perceived as empty, featureless, liminal, or as an obstacle or conduit to movement. However, past coastal and island communities would have been very familiar with the sea, its ebb and flow and the resources that it contained. They would have been adept at navigating within coastal waters and interpreting its tides, currents and wind patterns. In this way, the sea acquires meaning through active engagement; through the daily practices of seafaring and fishing. Through such activities, the sea, like the land, becomes socially constructed.

Is the sea, though, really like the land and are methodologies appropriate to studies of landscape applicable to the sea? We tend to think of the sea as a plane, mean sea-level. However, the constant rising and ebbing of tides and the changing wave regimes clearly demonstrates this to be an illusion. The sea is a volume—it is three-dimensional. In basic terms, it comprises a submerged seabed, an undulating and ever-changing surface with a variable expanse of water between. Each of these elements contains an abundance of life, both plant and animal, that changes depending upon a bewildering range of variables, such as the condition of the seabed, depth, temperature, exposure and time of year, to name a few. These spatial and temporal qualities are very different to those experienced within a landscape. The Cartesian concept of a scape and the use of landscape approaches, albeit modified, are perhaps not appropriate to the study of the sea?

This Special Edition invites papers and reviews dealing with new theoretical and methodological approaches towards the study of past coastal and maritime communities. Whilst emphasis will be placed upon the interpretation of the archaeological record, anthropological case studies would also be welcomed. A key theme that we would like to explore is past coastal community’s ability to respond to the ever-changing maritime environment, in terms of resources, technology, etc. and any lessons that might be taken when considering current global climate change.

Dr. Gary Robinson
Guest Editor

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• seascape
• adaption
• coastal communities
• maritime archaeology