The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2000) 29.1: 167-177 doi: 10.1006/ijna.2000.0267 ®

Archaeological heritage management in Dutch waters: exploratory studies ( Scheepsarcheologie V)

THIJS MAARLEVELD

206 pp., 57 colour, numerous b&w illustrations

ROB/NISA, Oostvaardersdijk 01-04, Lelystad 8242, The Netherlands, 1998, £25 inc. p&p (sftbk), ISBN 90-5799-001-6

The combination of the two Dutch nautical archaeol- ogy organizations in a new base at Lelystad was apparently the stimulus to the production of this handsome volume by the chief diving archaeologist, Thijs Maarleveld. The entire book is in English, and one wonders for whom it is irrtended--presumably not the taxpayers or politicians of the Netherlands, anglophone though so many of them are.

For an international readership, on the other hand, it is not at first obvious what the book offers. Apart from brief introductory or linking sections, the text is made up of six papers, all of which have previously been published, one in this Journal. The most forceful and significant of these papers is 'Double Dutch solu- tions in flush-planked shipbuilding: continuity and adaptations at the start of Modern History', which appeared in the proceedings of ISBSA VI, Crossroads in Ancient Shipbuilding (edited by C. Westerdahl, Oxford, 1994). In the present volume, however, there are some excellent colour photos of the wooden struc- ture of the wreck which is the focus of the paper. This wreck is Scheurrak S01, a late 16th-century merchant- man; the fore part of the hull has been cut free from the rest on site and dismantled in the Dutch research workshop, giving excellent insights, well summarized in a suite of diagrams, into the method of construction of the flush-laidship, built shell-first. Maarleveld's paper is in any case a classic of archaeological literature, but in the present volume it gains by being set alongside a review of the archaeology of ships dated 1492-1609 (previously published in Rotterdam Papers) and an analysis of two 17th-century, single-skinned ships, Scheurrak T24 and Inschot/Zuidoostrak.

This set of reprints serves very well to illustrate the author's main point, that mere preserva~don of the maritime heritage is not enough, but that research objectives need to guide decisions on preservation or protection. However, from the cultural resource man- agement point of view, one has to ask whether the three examples which have here been named are the best that could be chosen. The detailed study of the hull structure of all three ships was possible only on

the basis of cutting up the seabed remains; at lnschot/ Zuidoostrak this was in effect a salvage job following exposure of the wreck by a gas pipe, and at Scheurrak T24 a section was removed after the site had been vandalized. In the last case, 'various considerations determined the selection of an appropriate part: the structure . . . should include the central line . . . it should be amidships; and finally it should not exceed 2-25 m in length in order to be readily transportable on an open lorry'. This admirably practical approach falls well short of the more lofty principles which the author enunciates elsewhere in this volume.

In his papers on the cultural, legal, historical and environmental perspectives of underwater heritage management, Maarleveld rightly urges a move away from the search for individual, named, frequently treasure-laden, sites to a consistent policy of explora- tion and preservation based on a research plan and consideration of environmental and other threats. He refers to a number of theoretical positions regarding the relativity of perceptions of the past, but does not explain how these can be applied in black and white to the underwater heritage situation. Indeed, where he proposes that the Dutch underwater heritage should be made subject to international rather than merely national guidelines, he seems to retreat from a theoreti- cal or research-orientated position to one based on moving with the crowd. In the reviewer's opinion, this, the first part of the book, would be better if it had been written anew, without incorporating earlier publications. Some of the issues might also, for an international audience, have been spelled out more clearly, for it is evident from reading between the lines that some problems have been tactfully omitted in the discussion which appears here.

Overall this is an engaging book, forcefully written and attractively put together. The main argument, that heritage management without research is sterile, is important and needs to be heard in many countries outside the Netherlands. The paradox, of course, is that until you know what is there you cannot sensibly preserve it, but if the cultural resource is not preserved there will be nothing left on which to research. Cross- disciplinary programmes, and co-operation between archaeological curators and academic researchers, are, as Maarleveld says, essential if the subject is to escape from the grip of the paradox. That this book is able to illustrate the meaning of research on the basis of such excellent examples is its main strength, and makes it a compulsory entry in the reading-list of nautical archaeology.

A. J. PARKER

1057-2414/00/010167+ 11 $35.00/0 © 2000 The Nautical Archaeology Society