UNCLOS establishes the extent of each zone and

specifies what states can and cannot do within each of them.

When this Convention was negotiated, underwater cul-

tural heritage was not particularly high in the order of

priorities and therefore did not receive the consideration

that was necessary to establish a strong protective regime.

Nevertheless, the Convention is important in that it

specifies what each state can regulate in each zone. It is

therefore necessary to consider each zone in turn.

It is also important to be able to determine where each

of these zones begins because UNCLOS starts where the

land ends and the sea begins. This, however, is never con-

stant given the ebb and flow of the tides and indentations

caused by bays, estuaries etc. In international law, the sea

begins at the low-water mark as marked on large-scale

charts. This is called the ‘baseline’. It is from this line that

all the maritime zones are measured. The baseline does

not, however, always follow the low-water mark around

the coast, and may be drawn across river mouths, bays,

harbours and along islands or sandbanks that appear at low

tide. Each zone is then measured from this agreed baseline.

Deep sea-bed and the high seas: The deep sea-bed is

defined as the area ‘beyond the limits of national juris-

diction’. Therefore, it is the area that exists beyond the

territorial sea or any other maritime zone claimed by a

particular state, such as the contiguous zone or exclusive

economic zone. In this area, no state can claim unilateral

jurisdiction, and the age-old principle of the ‘freedom of

T

he legal issues relating to the discovery, survey and
excavation of underwater cultural heritage were once
described as ‘a legal labyrinth’ (Altes, 1976). This
is certainly the perception of many amateur and pro-
fessional underwater archaeologists. The purpose of this
section is to chart a path through this maze of national
and international laws and to establish an understanding
of the legal issues that might be encountered when inter-
acting with underwater cultural heritage.

JURISDICTION – WHERE DO THE LAWS APPLY?

When determining the legal regime that is to apply to any
given situation, the first step is to identify where one is.
In the world’s oceans, this is no easy matter. To determine
the legal regime that applies, one has to refer to inter-
national law and, in particular, to the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Adopted
in 1982, this Convention sets out to divide the world’s
oceans into different zones and specifies what legal
regime is to apply in each zone. Five different zones were
established:

• deep sea-bed and the high seas;


• continental shelf;


• exclusive economic zone;


• contiguous zone;


• territorial seas.

International and National Laws

Relating to Archaeology Under Water

Contents

u Jurisdiction – where do the laws apply?

u The regime in international waters

u International salvage law

u Underwater cultural heritage and

salvage law

u Ownership of underwater cultural heritage

u Abandonment of ownership

u National legislation

u International conventions

u Case studies

7

Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice Second Edition Edited by Amanda Bowens

© 2009 Nautical Archaeological Society ISBN: 978-1-405-17592-0