Maritime archaeology is the study of human interaction with water that includes a wide array of activities including transportation, shipbuilding, fishing, port-related activity, and settlement patterns. While the term underwater is often used, that definition is largely methodologically related. Instead, the term ‘maritime’ is often more suitable to encompass human activities on, under, and by waterways. Thus, maritime archaeology is the study of our past through the discovery and examination of material culture relating to the oceans, lakes, river, and even streams. Nautical archaeology is a further subdivision of the field of maritime archaeology that focuses on the design, construction, and operation of historic vessels. Some maritime archaeologists study submerged landscapes that were inundated by rising sea levels. Ancient landforms, now underwater, may contain archaeological sites from thousands of years ago. Other maritime archaeologists may specialize in regional or temporal histories such as a specific conflict or a geographic region.
Methods used by maritime archaeologists include site-recording and excavation, similar to terrestrial archaeology, and may include a variety of survey techniques, such as sonars, magnetometers and remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs), which allow maritime archaeologists to see what remains on the floor of a body of water over a vast area. When examining a site, many types of examination may be used such as dendrochronology (dating wood using tree-ring identification), taxonomic sampling (determining species of plants from their archaeological remains), micro-faunal analysis (examining samples from discrete features on a site that may contain exoskeletons of ancient bugs and vermin), geological examination (to determine the source of a cargo), and dozens of other types of specialized analysis.