MBNMS Submerged Cultural Resources Study: 2001

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Submerged Cultural Resources Study: 2001 (March 2003)

Sheli O. Smith and Jack Hunter
Underwater Archaeological Consortium
San Luis Obispo, CA

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Submerged Cultural Resources Study of 2001 focused on three aspects of the submerged cultural resources that reside within the protected waters of the sanctuary (MBNMS):

I. The expansion of the existing submerged cultural resources MBNMS database of reported vessel losses
II. The construction of a questionnaire with regards to how the known shipwreck sites within the sanctuary are being visited and impacted.
III. A discussion of the theoretical survival of drowned and re-deposited prehistoric human activity sites upon the continental shelf.

The impetus behind acquiring information about recorded and postulated submerged cultural resources of the sanctuary is to provide management direction for future protection and enhancement of these resources. All cultural resources studies should begin with a review of pertinent literature to define a baseline of the submerged cultural resources potentially expected to occur within the study area. This study exclusively examines cultural sites now submerged under sanctuary waters, not on-shore sites occurring along the coast adjacent to the sanctuary.