Maritime Heritage

For millennia, past human societies have depended on the sea for travel and trade, as well as for food and resources. Along the coastlines of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), we can find evidence for these human activities in the form of archaeological sites including coastal settlements, ports, shipwrecks, shell middens, quarries, fish traps and fish tanks. Some of these sites are located on the present-day coast above the high water mark. Others are located on the seabed or foreshore and thus are fully or partially submerged.

Old satellite imagery such as these declassified Corona spy satellite images from 1970 can help us to detect features that have now disappeared. On the Corona image above a series of relict beach ridges are visible and which suggest the infilling of a former bay next to the ancient settlement of Tell Daruk in Syria. More recent satellite imagery shows that the ridges are covered by modern agriculture and buildings, and that the shoreline has also retreated since 1970 (Corona image is from the Corona Atlas, satellite image © Digital Globe via the ESRI basemap).

Coastal zones are very dynamic and ever-changing. Naturally, these changes can range from the impact of a storm in a few hours to the oscillation of the ocean surface in response to the melting and expansion of ice sheets over millennia. Humans too are starting to leave their mark though land reclamation, harbour expansion and exploitation of seabed resources. Consequently, there are very real threats to coastal and maritime cultural heritage from both natural and human causes. Crucially, these are becoming more prevalent given our rapidly changing climate and the increasing pace of coastal development and marine exploitation. Indeed, cultural heritage in the MENA region is being lost at an alarming rate and there is a critical need to document coastal and underwater heritage before it disappears.

Old aerial photographs can vividly show how settlements along the coast have expanded over time, often threatening, covering or destroying cultural heritage in their wake. The aerial photograph above was taken in 1938 and shows the relatively small settlement of Marsa Martuh in Egypt. Evidence for human occupation of the site goes back to the Bronze Age, and it was an important harbour in the Pharaonic and Roman periods. Over the years, the modern city expanded exponentially. The harbour and lagoons have also been altered significantly (Aerial Photograph courtesy of EAMENA; satellite image © Digital Globe via Google Earth).

Documenting the resource is the first step towards developing sustainable management strategies for its future protection and interpretation. Drawing on the EAMENA methodology, the MarEA project documents the coastal zone in a comprehensive manner, recording coastal, near-shore and underwater sites visible from satellite images, aerial photographs and maps. From monitoring coastal erosion and accretion, to tracking urban development, MarEA evaluates cultural heritage at risk from natural and anthropogenic threats. Archaeological, geophysical and environmental datasets are also analysed, and, when appropriate, complemented by field observations and survey work.

Our work extends to documenting geoarchaeological evidence, which enables an understanding of past landscapes and environments and can indicate the potential for archaeological preservation.

The case study of Apollonia in this exhibition will showcase some of the threats and impacts to which maritime heritage sites are exposed. It also demonstrates some of the techniques and approaches we can use to interpret aerial photographs and satellite imagery. These enable us to derive insights into the nature of change from shoreline movement to urban expansion.