Want to explore ancient shipwrecks or dig out treasures of a different kind?
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If you love diving but cannot justify the time and money you spend on it, here’s a career that will make it an essential part of your work. It’s hunting treasure of a different sort — man-made objects that have been lying undisturbed at the bottom of the ocean for centuries. They can be anything from sunken vessels to submerged ports to tools and anchors left behind by passing ships.

While archaeologists in the West have for decades been scouring the ocean floor for shipwrecks and shore-side structures swallowed by water, marine archaeology — also called maritime or underwater archaeology — is yet to take off in India in a big way. This, despite the fact that India boasts of an enviable underwater heritage — in the form of submerged cities and sunken ships — spanning over 4,000 years.

According to experts, more than three million undiscovered shipwrecks are strewn across the ocean floor. A good number of these can be found in Indian waters which had been a major maritime destination from the time of the Indus Valley civilisation (2600-1900 BC). Besides, archival records of European countries indicate that a number of vessels sailing to and from India had been lost along the coast here since the 16th century.

“With a great maritime past that dates back to the Harappan times and a 7,000-km coastline, the Indian seas are a veritable treasure trove for marine archaeologists,” says Alok Tripathi, who heads the underwater archaeology wing of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Marine archaeology in India dates back to the 1980s when a team of researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, began exploring a few shipwrecks off the coast of Goa and the ancient port city of Dwarka in present-day Gujarat that was swallowed up by the Arabian Sea. Since then several sites have been explored including Mahabalipuram, Poompuhar and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Finding invaluable archaeological remains lying underwater can help piece together our history and heritage, observes Tripathi. Unlike ancient structures found on land, the ones underwater are more reliable as scientific evidence as the latter are not subjected to human forays, he says.

“Underwater archaeology has great potential in India. However, it hasn’t been tapped properly for a variety of reasons,” says A.S. Gaur, a marine archaeologist with NIO, Goa. ASI and NIO are the only two institutions that have been consistently carrying out underwater excavation in India. One of the reasons, says Tripathi, is the lack of awareness and willingness among young people to take up marine archaeology. ASI has been conducting short-term courses every year to familiarise people with the subject. These courses, conducted in up to three phases each and dealing with classroom sessions and onshore and offshore excavations, are open to anybody who is interested in archaeology. “We want to train at least 100 marine archaeologists over the next five years,” says Tripathi.

Some Indian universities — such as Andhra University at Visakhapatanam and Tamil University at Thanjavur — too offer courses in marine archaeology but the syllabus is largely confined to theory. Practical studies need diving experience and knowledge — but diving training is not a part of the curriculum. A marine archaeologist can take the help of divers from the Navy and Coast Guards to excavate but he or she needs to be a good diver to execute the project really well, says Tripathi, who is himself an accomplished diver.

Learning to dive in India, however, is difficult and expensive. Unlike in the West, diving is not promoted as a water sport in India, says Gaur. “If the sports authorities of each coastal state encouraged underwater diving and opened a few training centres, more and more young people would take up diving as a leisure activity. We can then, hopefully, get some youngsters interested in a career in underwater archaeology,” says Gaur. Another factor that discourages young people from opting for such a specialised field is that it offers only a limited number of jobs.

All that, however, is set to change. India has signed the 2001 Unesco Convention on Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which requires national governments to protect and preserve the ruins and shipwrecks that lie at the bottom of their territorial waters. As soon as India ratifies the convention, it will have to take steps to do so, says Tripathi. The first step will be to make a detailed record of India’s underwater heritage, which cannot be done by a handful of marine archaeologists. And the Indian government does not let foreign nationals explore its waters.

So, interested in becoming a water baby? Then check out Unesco’s list of major institutions and universities around the world that offer courses relating to underwater archaeology (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/ 0015/001514/151452e.pdf).

With so much to be explored, it is an exciting time for those who opt for a career in marine archaeology. What awaits them is a heady cocktail of adventure and knowledge. And history is never boring when it is buried under water.

Sources: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)