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Adventurer, explorer, and maritime archaeologist Jim Delgado sits down for a chat with ARCHAEOLOGY's contributing editor, Heather Pringle, in a quiet bar in the old cannery town of Steveston, British Columbia. Delgado, the president of the world-famous Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Texas, entertains with tales of his underwater explorations of Khubilai Khan's lost invasion fleet off the coast of Japan, and his discoveries of the lost gold rush port of San Francisco. A passionate and eloquent advocate of underwater archaeology, Delgado reminds us why we should care about the wrecks that lie along the seabed and what we gain by protecting them from treasure hunters. If you've ever wondered what makes a maritime archaeologist tick, pull up a chair and join us.
More about underwater cultural heritage from ARCHAEOLOGY
- Senior Editor Zach Zorich reviews a new Discovery Channel series featuring Odyssey Marine, a controversial company, seen by some as little more than treasure hunters. Here's his reaction to the program.
- Contributing Editor Heather Pringle reported on the 1814 wreck of HMS Fantome in 2006 and analyzed how treasure hunting is devastating our underwater cultural heritage in "Profiteers on the High Seas" in 2007. See also "The Pursuit of Gold," Pringle's October 2008 blog post about Odyssey Marine Exploration.
- Meanwhile, 20 nations have signed on to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which now goes into force for those countries. What does that mean? Heather Pringle sums it up in her blog entry for January 2: "A Victory in the War of Wrecks."
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