Protect the Underwater Cultural Heritage
Have you made a casual finding?
Why is it important to preserve the Underwater Cultural Heritage?
- Learning about it helps us to write new chapters of our maritime history.
- Protecting it helps us to preserve our historical memory.
- Preserving it helps us to create wealth, since heritage provides added value to the tourism being offered in our region.
Report your find!
We are at a risk of losing our heritage.
Now you can help to protect it too!
Stories
SOSHERITAGE
MISSION
To create social awareness about the need to protect and preserve the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
VISION
To achieve total protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage through direct collaboration with local communities.
VALUES
Innovation, commitment, cooperation, and effectiveness.
FAQ
Unfortunately, not. It must be clear that making a casual find does not make us the owners. The Spanish Historical Heritage law says that all objects and physical remains that possess the values that qualifies them to be considered Spanish Historical Heritage, either discovered in excavations, earth removals, works of any kind, or by chance, are public domain.
Regardless of the law, we consider this a matter of civility and common sense.
If you find an underwater archaeological object in the sea and you take it out, two things will happen. Firstly, it will degrade quickly causing irreversible damages if not treated by a professional specialized in the restoration of underwater objects. And secondly, it will lose most of its scientific value as it has been taken out of its context.
In fact, an archaeological object is not important just by itself. Its value is linked to the context (the archaeological site) where it belongs, as this is what tells us the story of an event or specific moment in the history of the place.
In general terms, maritime cultural heritage, like terrestrial, is the responsibility of each Autonomous Community. In the particular case of the Balearic Islands, it will be under the competence of each Island Council.
According to the Spanish Historical Heritage law, a casual find is the discovery of objects and physical remains that, possessing the values that qualifies them to be considered Spanish historical heritage, have been produced by chance or as a result of any other type of earth removals, demolitions or works of any kind.
In addition, please note that, by law, these findings must be reported to the competent authority in 48h.
To carry out archaeological surveys and/or excavations, a specific permit must be requested from the competent administration, and this can only be done by an archaeologist specialized in underwater archaeology.
Nowadays, to be an underwater archaeologist, the only possible path is to undertake the courses that can accredit you as such. That is, a degree in History and/or Archaeology and, subsequently, a master’s degree specialized in Underwater Archaeology.
However, there are other professional profiles that can be very useful and even essential in an underwater archaeology intervention.
The restorer figure is essential and should always be included in an underwater archaeology project.
There are other skills such as photography or topography that can be of great help so if you think you have an appropriate professional profile, do not forget to contact the people in charge of the projects.
Once you fill in and submit your form, it will reach the technicians in charge of managing the cultural heritage, within the competent administration according to where you discovered the find. They will implement the necessary mechanisms to proceed with its study and protection.