Search Results (13)

The Atlantic slave trade was one of the most significant and violent processes in global history, and the Iberian empires played a central role in its development. Yet in Spain and Portugal, the historical and public memory of slavery remains fragmented, producing silences that contrast with its historical magnitude. This study examines these silences through two complementary lenses: the academic preparation of future history teachers and the heritage narratives presented in Iberian museums, adopting a mixed-methods design. A total of 138 pre-service teachers from eight Spanish and Portuguese universities completed a questionnaire providing quantitative data to assess how the Atlantic slave trade was addressed in their university training and which didactic and heritage resources they consider most appropriate for teaching it. In parallel, exhibitions and institutional discourses were analysed in seven national and regional museums related to America, colonisation or maritime expansion, drawing on qualitative data from written interviews with museum professionals. The findings reveal limited curricular attention to the Atlantic slave trade, uneven valuation of heritage resources, and highly variable museum narratives. These results highlight the need for coordinated educational and heritage strategies that strengthen historical understanding, support democratic and intercultural competencies, and contribute to a more inclusive and critically informed public memory. Full article

This article focuses on the model of a sailing ship from the collection of the Maritime Museum in Orebić, Croatia, whose sails conceal material, visual, and symbolic enigmas that have raised a number of new research questions. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of the sail substrate material, which was previously incorrectly catalogued as leather, while research has revealed that it is, in fact, impregnated canvas. Prolonged exposure to inadequate storage conditions led to material deterioration and visible changes that severely compromised the visual integrity of the model. A synthesis of laboratory analyses, conservation, and restoration studies, as well as historical and archival research in an interdisciplinary framework, made it possible to identify materials and manufacturing techniques in detail. The painted decorations on the sails and flags become clearly legible after cleaning, providing new information about the ship’s name and royal affiliation and opening up new avenues for investigating the symbolism behind the motifs of this model. Full article

Bengala, a steamer that sank in 1889 near Capo Rizzuto, Italy, was a relatively new vessel for its time, with an unusually short 18-year service life, given that steamers of the period typically operated for 30 to 40 years. Despite its brief history, SS Bengala played a significant role in the development of Italy’s young merchant navy, undergoing multiple ownership changes and serving various Italian shipping companies. Employed mainly along the route to Southeast Asia, it transported Italian migrants overseas and also participated in troop raids during the Italian military expedition to Eritrea in 1887. Despite its historical significance, no iconographic material has yet been found to depict SS Bengala, and archival research conducted in Italy and England has not uncovered any naval plans, photographs, or drawings of the ship. To overcome this gap, the authors employed new technologies and historical information to create a virtual reconstruction. This research combined archival sources with underwater surveys, including a detailed 3D survey by divers and archaeologists. Archival research, including consultation of official documents, provided critical information on the ship’s dimensions, superstructure, rigging, materials, and construction methods. The 3D modelling of the ship’s external hull, based on precise geometric data from the wreck site, offers a first step towards virtual reconstruction. The modelling is grounded in photogrammetric surveying techniques, ensuring high accuracy in the reconstruction process. The model can be used in augmented reality (AR) applications to enhance underwater exploration, allowing divers to visualise the reconstructed ship in its original environment. Additionally, it supports museum exhibits, interactive visualisations, and educational games, making it a valuable resource for engaging the public with maritime history and archaeology. Full article

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has revolutionized the preservation and interpretation of heritage sites. This study focuses on developing an immersive 360-degree virtual tour (VT) for the USS Drum Submarine Museum in Mobile, Alabama, USA, incorporating oral histories to enhance the accessibility and visitor experiences. The project addresses the need for innovative methods to present maritime history effectively. Using Matterport technology, detailed 3D imagery of the USS Drum was captured and processed, integrating multimedia elements and oral histories from a veteran USS Drum crew member to provide a richer historical narrative. A user experience study gathered feedback from virtual visitors, who offered quantitative and qualitative responses. The research findings indicate that the VT significantly enhances visitor engagement and historical understanding, with high satisfaction rates for visual quality and oral histories, though some users experienced technical challenges and difficulties. This study demonstrates the potential of combining immersive VTs with oral histories to create engaging educational experiences, preserving the USS Drum’s legacy and making it accessible to a broader audience, including those unable to visit in person. Furthermore, this project sets a precedent for museums to leverage digital tools in preserving and promoting maritime heritage and oral histories. Full article

Over the past decade, virtual museums have rapidly evolved due to technological advancements, and after the COVID-19 disruption grew in importance, this sustained the innovation of storytelling and the digital transformation of touristic practices. This paper presents the outcomes of a cooperation project: a virtual museum for eight ports in the Adriatic area, constituting notable examples of widespread heritage. The platform Adrijo is a multi-scalar, multilayer virtual museum that leverages the concept of geo-storytelling and e-tourism, also applying two augmented reality technologies for site-specific installations. In addition to the project results, an assessment of the different levels and experiences is provided, based on qualitative and qualitative analysis. As a re-usable resource, the technical tender specification from the methodological work package is presented, encompassing details of the technology, structure, functionalities, costs, timing for realization, and accessibility for disabled people. This paper proposes, through the critical analysis of the VM, a methodology that can be reused in other contexts, also providing toolkits for both its implementation and user satisfaction surveys, as well as for analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of some specific examples. The goal of the present research is thus to establish a consolidated methodological framework for designing, developing, implementing, and assessing a virtual museum, fully featured with 3D models and augmented reality technologies. Full article

Following Max Liboiron’s claim that pollution is colonialism, the anti-colonial maritime archaeologist’s role in the Anthropocene might be to reframe research questions, so that focus is directed toward interactions between marine and maritime, and that the colonial ‘resurrectionist’ approach that has dominated nautical archaeology ought to be reconsidered altogether. This normative statement is put to the test with a 4000-year-old waterlogged dugout canoe that was illegally excavated from the Cooper River in South Carolina, USA. Upon retrieval, the affected tribal entities were brought into consultation with archaeologists and conservators to help decide how to proceed with the canoe’s remains. Tribal representatives reached a consensus to preserve the canoe with PEG and display it in a public museum. This procedure follows the resurrectionist model typical of maritime archaeology in the West, now the dominant protocol globally, where the scholar acts as savior by lifting entire wrecks from watery graves and promising to grant them immortality in utopian museum spaces. However, this immortalizing procedure is at odds with some Indigenous values, voiced by tribal representatives, which embrace life cycles and distributed agency. In the end, the desire to preserve the canoe as a perpetual symbol of intertribal unity dominated concerns surrounding the canoe’s own life, spirit, and autonomy, and that plasticizing it would permanently alter its substance and essence. We argue that the object of the canoe has become subservient to its postcolonial symbolism of Indigenous unity, resilience, and resistance. Further, by subscribing to the resurrectionist model of maritime archaeology, the immortalized canoe now bears the irony of colonial metaphor, as an unintended consequence of its preservation. We echo Audre Lorde’s famous sentiment by wondering if an anticolonial maritime archaeology can ever hope to dismantle the master’s boat using the master’s tools. The conclusions reached here have implications for other maritime and museum contexts too, including the highly publicized case of the wrecked 1859–1860 slave ship, Clotilda. Full article

As awareness of the negative externalities created by ports increases, and the perceived local benefits decrease, ports must find new ways to improve the local noneconomic benefits they provide if they are to obtain local support. This global survey collected data from 51 ports in 26 countries. The results highlight a recognition by port authorities that ports face increasing pressure from local residents to reduce their negative impacts and that they should seek to improve the public perception towards the port by increasing local benefits. At present, port information and social media (81%), port events (67%) and education (63%) are the most adopted options. There is a lack of evidence that these measures are effective in improving local perceptions. Maritime museums and public access show a positive association with increasing local awareness of the benefits a port provides, despite their lower levels of adoption (45%). Port centres are the least adopted option at present (29%) and can be expected to increase significantly, with a 43% increase anticipated between numbers of current and expected future centres. Education (14%), public access (13%) and maritime museums (4.5%) also show increases in levels of interest. Maritime museums and public access should be pursued as proven, effective options for improving local perceptions of ports, whilst port centres may provide a new focal point for port-related social and cultural activities. Full article

The Alutiiq, Indigenous inhabitants of the coastal regions of Southwest Alaska, created garments made from fish skins, especially salmon, expertly sewn by women from Kodiak Island. Traditionally, Alutiiq education focused on acquiring survival skills: how to navigate the seas in all weathers, hunting, fishing and tanning animal skins. Today, many Alutiiq people continue to provide for their families through subsistence fishing, honouring the ocean and navigating difficult times by listening to their collective wisdom. This paper describes the series of fish skin tanning workshops taught by June Pardue, an Alutiiq and Inupiaq artist from Kodiak Island that connected participants in Alaska Native communities during the COVID-19 isolation months. Through an online platform, June passed on expert knowledge of the endangered Arctic fish skin craft, assisting participants in coping with the pandemic crisis by tapping into their knowledge of the natural world, cultural resourcefulness, storytelling abilities and creative skills. Brought into the digital age, the fish skin workshops strengthened connections among Alutiiq and Alaskan craftspeople while establishing new connections with an expanded network of fashion designers, museum curators, conservators and tanners. Finally, the paper highlights how fish skin Indigenous practices address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regarding poverty, health and well-being, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, social inequality, responsible consumption and production, climate change and maritime issues. Full article

The obligation to preserve underwater cultural heritage is a core principle of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. A key element of this obligation is a balance of scientific research, protection, and the promotion of responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites. Such a balance requires the setting up of a network of communication between the tourism and heritage sectors on the one hand and the maritime and diving communities on the other hand. A variety of approaches have been developed to promote responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites, and since the vast majority of the public does not dive, this also includes the development of virtual access. In Malta, maritime archaeology can be traced to humble and sporadic beginnings in the 1950s. The following decades brought a growing interest in diving activities and a rising number of diving schools and clubs. Whilst Malta has today established itself as a diving tourism destination, responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites was not always entrenched in dive operations or institutionally recognized. The protection and management of underwater cultural heritage has recently been firmly established within Heritage Malta, the national agency for museums, conservations, and cultural heritage. This paper is intended to outline the trajectory of Malta’s underwater cultural heritage management and to present the innovative and state of the art public access system that is managed by the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit within Heritage Malta. Full article

Nanhai No. 1, a shipwreck in the Southern Song Dynasty, China, has a history of more than 800 years. It was salvaged in 2007 and is now on display in the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum. Due to the fact that the hull is a wooden cultural relic and exposed to the air, the biological corrosion and biodegradation caused by microorganisms are key problems of hull protection. At present, the antimicrobial agent Euxyl^® K100 (isothiazolinone) has a significant antimicrobial effect in the field, but it has a certain negative impact on the environment and archeologists. In order to reduce the use of chemical antimicrobial agents, we evaluated the inhibitory effects of cinnamaldehyde on the main destructive microorganisms of Nanhai No. 1. Cinnamaldehyde is the main active component of cinnamon, and has broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties. The paper diffusion method, gas diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration experiment were used to detect the inhibitory effects of cinnamaldehyde on the main microorganisms of Nanhai No. 1. We found that cinnamaldehyde had significant inhibitory effects on Bacillus tequilensis NK-NH5, Bacillus megaterium NK-NH10, Bacillus velezensis NK-NH11, Bacillus sp. NK-NH15, Bacillus sp. NK-NH16, Bacillus sp. NK-NH17, Fusariumsolani NK-NH1 and Scedosporiumapiospermum NK.W1-3. At the same time, cinnamaldehyde had more inhibitory effects on fungi than bacteria. Finally, we verified that cinnamaldehyde can effectively inhibit the growth of microorganisms in water, for storing the scattered wood blocks of the Nanhai No. 1 hull through laboratory simulation experiments. Cinnamaldehyde, as an environment-friendly antimicrobial agent, is of great significance to protecting water-saturated wooden relics from microbial corrosion and degradation in the future. Full article

This study is the first attempt to decipher the effect of particulate matter (PM) composition on people’s health and on historic sites, in correlation with the daily and seasonal microclimate monitoring of the indoor and outdoor areas of the Roman Mosaic Edifice museum (the maritime port of Constanta, Romania). More specifically, the increase of metal concentrations in particulate matter during the summer of 2018 and spring of 2019 in the museum under investigation could possibly be associated with the microclimates of both seasons, with coastal factors, as well as with the anthropic activities specific to the port of Constanta. FTIR and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) techniques, used for the investigation of PM_2.5–10 samples, revealed high concentrations of Fe, Al-rich, and soluble particles inside the investigated museum area. In this respect, the chemical measurements of the PM_2.5–10 masses highlighted high concentrations of heavy metals (i.e., Al, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Pb) and low concentrations of trace metals (i.e., Cr, Ni, Cu, and Cd). Statistical analysis showed that the chemical compositions of the particulate matter in the indoor and outdoor areas of the Roman Mosaic Edifice were influenced by microclimatic conditions, mainly temperature and relative humidity (RH). A potential health risk for tourists is the thermal and humid conditions, alongside the toxic components of the particulate matter. This research seeks to provide solutions for improving the environmental conditions inside the Roman Mosaic Edifice and to offer useful suggestions concerning health promotion and the protection of museum exhibits against possible future deterioration. Full article

The goal of this research was to analyze the fungal community responsible for the biodeterioration of a pirogue in the National Maritime Museum of China and to make recommendations for the protection of this artifact. Molecular identification of fungal strains isolated from the surface of the pirogue and the air of the storage room that were most closely related to Cladosporium, Penicillium, Talaromyces and Trichoderma spp. DNA extracted from the samples was sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. The results showed that the predominant fungal genera present were Penicillium sp., Cladosporium sp. and Exophiala sp. Thereafter, cellulose degradation experiments were carried out on the predominant fungi screened by pure culturing. Finally, we tested the sensitivity of the predominant fungal isolates to four biocides. This work suggests that we should pay more attention to Penicillium sp. and Cladosporium sp. in the protection of wooden artifacts, and environmental control is recommended as the main means of protecting the pirogue. Full article

The gradual consciousness of the scientific and economic riches of marine life is rooted in the legacy of some pillars of scientific production and dissemination in institutions such as natural history museums, aquariums, and maritime stations. Nowadays, one of the biggest issues of these scientific collections of species (marine or others) is their contextual interpretation which demands its original collection point, collectors, and original aims. The current research focuses on the origin of collections of marine specimens in Portugal as well as their historical evolution. In this particular approach, we assess the connection of the Portuguese natural history museums, universities and aquariums to similar European institutions since the mid-19th century, crossing primary sources from different archives. It was possible to reconstruct connections with the Zoological Station of the bay of Naples (Italy), the Maritime Museum of Monaco, and Aquariums of Monaco, France, and England. We identify both informers and the circulation of zoological specimens that underpin Museums and Aquariums collections that are today important scientific heritage repositories for a larger understanding of marine biodiversity and its threats, and core places of aesthetic contemplation and of philosophical discussion about the evolution of scientific knowledge. Full article