Underwater Cultural Heritage

Diving into the past, the underwater cultural heritage is a significant component of human history. Like land-based cultural heritage, it's an integral part of the common heritage of humanity, and it deserves similar attention and management.

NUM also feel that shipwrecks are invaluable in reconstructing life-styles no longer existing and represent a buried treasure in terms of knowledge about life on board, boat construction and trade routes.

A shipwrecks is a time capsule waiting to be unlocked since time stops when a vessel founders !

Modern diving and excavation techniques have made the seabed accessible to all. This has led to the extensive looting by treasure hunters who often disregard ownership rights and scientific & archeological methods of excavation, as laid & set clearly by UNESCO.

These people damage the remainder of the site and deprive the general public of these treaures. Tourists diving, the fishing industry, pipe-laying and other activities on the sea-bed can also harm or destroy the underwater cultural heritage. Today, the world need legal protection for our cultural heritage, welcome to visit the following NUM's virtual library for better understanding of what NUM feel significant and relevant :

• Legal Protection For Cultural Heritage
• Underwater Cultural Heritage

This is main reasons why obvious increase in theft and destruction results in the irretrievable loss of our common heritage. It is therefore a matter not only of necessity but of urgency to adapot an international instrument in order to preserve the underwater cultural heritage, especially in our international water of SEA countries !

NUM realized that much of the world's underwater heritage escapes any national control as it is located on the outer reaches of the continental shelf or deep seabed. In fact, as early as 1956, UNESCO's Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavation applied to protect our underwater cultural heritage, wherever it may be !

NUM would like to introduce our visitors & members, to access to the following NUM's database and our NUM Virtual Library, to understand closely what UNESCO has done, and what are the urgent measures and laws has been adopted in the UNESCO international conventions...

a) NUM Virtual Cultural Library
b) Cultural Heritage Protection, MAM Database
c) Cultural Heritage Conservation & Management Policy

Other links :

NUM Community | UNESCO | ICOM | World Bank

If you have any inquiry or require any futher information of MAM, please contact us :

TC Chan (email : ecaf8@pd.jaring.my) or Steven Chan (email : tvchan@pd.jaring.my)