The text below
is provided by the Advisory Council of Underwater
Archaeology:
Covering
nearly three-quarters of Earth's surface, water
is the source of all life on our planet. Water-borne
transportation has allowed exploration of much of
the globe and facilitated the rise and fall of great
empires. Beneath the surface of our oceans, lakes,
rivers, and wetlands lies a physical record of humankind
preserved in prehistoric and historic shorelines,
shipwrecks, inundated cities, harbor works, and
other traces of our past.
Archaeology
is the scientific study of the human past through
the investigation of artifacts (the physical remains
of material culture), structures, the use of animals
and plants, and human remains. Its goal is greater
knowledge about past human cultures and behavior.
Underwater archaeology carries these studies into
a specialized environment, one containing numerous
challenges and rewards for archaeological investigators.
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