Diving up the Human Past: Perspectives of maritime archaeology, with specific reference to developments in South Africa until 1996

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In the present work, an effort is made to combine the traditionally separate fields of maritime historical and archaeological studies. The research specialisation of maritime archaeology is still rather underdeveloped, and so few efforts have been undertaken to explore more general theoretical issues pertaining to it. To rectify this deficiency, this book indicates and explores some of these issues. Different types of archaeological sites and artefactual material contained therein can be used to study and explain various aspects of people's past relations to the sea, but can only partly reflect people's past behaviour, actions, motivations, achievements and sentiments. For this reason, it is essential to study other, non-material sources in conjunction. The case studies examined in this volume show that historical texts form the most important and diverse sources of this nature and should be used wherever possible to reveal and explain the complexity of past human existence.