The results of a fascinating underwater archeological survey of Japan’s cultural heritage were presented at a symposium recently held in Tokyo at The Nippon Foundation.

The 3rd Symposium of Underwater Cultural Heritage and Archeology heard reports about underwater explorations in 2009. This included sites in Kyushu, Okinawa, Lake Biwa, and the Seto Inland Sea, helping to better understand the country’s underwater cultural legacy.

Asian Research Institute of Underwater Archaeology (ARIUA) Newsletter

The projects were undertaken by the NPO Asian Research Institute of Underwater Archaeology (ARIUA), whose comprehensive research work is supported by The Nippon Foundation.

In the past, ARIUA mainly focused its research on the Kyushu area, but from 2009, it expanded its work to other areas. Now, with a grant from The Nippon Foundation, it will be doing underwater cultural heritage and archaeological research investigations throughout all of Japan.

The archaeological excavation of land-based ancient ruins offers a lot of new information to the study of history, however, most people do not know that such ruins also exist at the bottom of lakes and the sea.

ARIUA Newsletter

For instance, villages have been submerged by lakes due to changes in climatic conditions, and sunken ships have accumulated around coastlines over the centuries for a variety of reasons.

Thanks to the remarkable development of diving equipment in recent years, it has become easier to move freely underwater and do archaeological studies. This puts such research on an equal level with archaeological excavations on land.

These trends in ocean, sea, and underwater research are giving a whole new meaning to the concept of archaeology.