Maritime Cultural Landscapes

This dissertation examines ancient anchoring practice in the Mediterranean through ca. 1500 CE, as well as the history and technological developments of iron anchors, which are among the most important tools inherited from the ancient world. The methodology employed is holistic in synthesizing archaeological finds, textual, and iconographic evidence, and includes statistical and geographical analysis based on a substantial catalogue of ancient anchor finds. An experimental project is also included where anchor reconstructions were used in the sea and their utility tested.

Mooring is one of the least studied aspects of everyday life for the people of the ancient Mediterranean. It has been elucidated that in most circumstances beaching would not have been a practical option, even for warships and the smallest cargo vessels. Rather, vessels were equipped with specialized gear for mooring off or near undeveloped shores. This included ship's boats enabling access to the shore. Lower draft vessels, particularly galleys, could approach unbuilt shores and employ mooring stakes and cables, and the ship's landing-ladder would be deployed into shallow water. Where available, however, ships would benefit from built quays which facilitated goods transport.

The iron stock-anchor displays the greatest longevity of any anchoring tool, evinced as early as the 5th c. BCE, and appears to have achieved dominance over wooden types by the 3rd c. CE. From its conception the iron-stock anchor undergoes a broad range of gradual changes to its form and features. The earliest known finds take a 'V' form in the bulk-arms and gradually develop through rounded to 'T' and 'Y' forms in the Byzantine Period. The stocks evolve from removable iron types, to permanent forms entirely of wood. Reintroduction of upward-oriented arm designs from northern Europe around the 13th c. CE, and incorporation of hydraulic mechanized smithing developments, heralded a revolution of anchoring technology. Larger, stronger and more efficient anchors were being produced to standardized dimensions and quality, promoting larger ships, and ultimately resulting in novel characteristics of navigation.

As Paisagens Culturais Marítimas são
conjuntos de sítios arqueológicos submersos, ou
combinações de sítios terrestres e submersos que reflectem
a relação entre o Homem e o meio aquático. Estas
paisagens podem variar entre uma região do litoral, como
áreas circunscritas, onde se incluem sítios terrestres hoje
inundados, ou sítios subaquáticos actualmente secos. No
entanto, o que liga todos estes sítios é a premissa de que
cada aspecto da paisagem cultural, político, ambiental,
tecnológico e físico, estão inter-relacionados e não podem
ser compreendidos isoladamente.  Por outro lado esta
abordagem proporciona ligações físicas e teóricas entre a
arqueologia subaquática e terrestre, bem como a
arqueologia pré-histórica e histórica e, consequentemente,
proporcionar um quadro para integrar diversos aspectos
como o comércio, contratos de recurso, habitação, produção
industrial, e de guerra num estudo holístico do passado.
A proposta de comunicação pretende ser uma primeira
aproximação de síntese marítima balanceada entre os
naufrágios, estruturas marítimas e outros vestígios do
Concelho de Cascais na época moderna.

Data sharing is a fundamental process for the advancement of both natural and social sciences. Starting from the idea that computers and the internet have drastically changed the world in the last decades, this paper advocates for the creation of a space where archaeologists from around the world can share information about maritime history and exchange data with colleagues. Following the principles of open access, we argue that raw data publication is necessary and significant for the development and democratization of the discipline. This study explains the fundamental aspects of the Nautical Archaeology Digital Library (NADL) and its efforts to standardize information collection for shipwrecks and related sites, so that scholars can create a community to disseminate both raw data and complete information in the field of maritime archaeology. To achieve this, our purpose is to facilitate the development of common-ground methodology and terminology that promotes an intelligible dia...

Boathouse Row, in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, is one of the city's longstanding heritage landscapes. Among this historic collection of buildings stands Turtle Rock Lighthouse, Philadelphia's only remaining lighthouse and one of the few standing in Pennsylvania. Notably, Turtle Rock is embedded within one of the boathouses, the Sedgeley Club, which was the first women's athletic club founded in the United States. This paper traces the co-development of both Turtle Rock Lighthouse and the Sedgeley Club into a single institution as they became significant but lesser-known features of both Philadelphia's social history and heritage landscape. Through this case study's deeper examination of the historical and geographical contexts, I argue that lighthouses are too often overlooked or disregarded elements of cultural landscapes in scholarship and should be better appreciated aspects of our heritage and built environment.

Aperture e diversificazioni di ambiti operativi e linguaggi cultura dell'architettura / rappresentazione / teoria del progetto / tecnologia industria delle costruzioni / industrial design / città, territorio, paesaggio conservazione e restauro / disegno d'interni / scenografia/ arte

Waterways have been key factors in the development of societies from prehistoric times to nowadays, particularly due to their role as vectors for cultural interactions, material exchange, and transmission of knowledge. The fluidity of these highways of transport and communications is tightly linked to the presence of transit points: spaces with unique geographical characteristics that acted as nodal points between different communities. Transit points are thus defined as places of intense social contacts, putting objects of physical geography into the domain of social sciences and humanities.
The subject is challenging, as many activities that happen in the aquatic spaces seldom leave substantial archaeological traces behind. Actions that take place on board vessels are only visible through secondary sources like iconography, while archaeological remains from ships are often difficult to access. In some instances, the location where contacts might have taken place are obscured by a lack of remains, but the impact of those interactions are visible in other ways, such as nautical technology or language and cultural exchanges.
This book demonstrates that by changing the research paradigm to an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective that fully embraces the intricate connection between society and water spaces we can bring forth the nuances of human-environment interactions in water transit points.

A pilot project was initiated by Heritage Victoria in 2003 to identify maritime infrastructure sites of heritage significance along the Victorian coastline. The project was initiated after the loss of or disturbance to several maritime heritage sites within recent years. The heritage significance of these types of sites had not previously been systematically investigated.
The project aimed to collate an inventory of Victorian Historic Maritime Infrastructure sites to allow the location, identification, management, utilisation and interpretation of these sites and features, including: piers, jetties, wharves, anchorages, navigational aids and structures, shipbuilding facilities, bathing and recreational amenities, and other maritime related services. Short histories and/ or site inspections were undertaken of those places identified as of potential cultural significance under the terms of the Victorian Heritage Act 1995.
The study identified 254 new maritime heritage sites, ranging from cargo transferral structures such as piers, jetties and wharves; recreational and bathing facilities; shipbuilding amenities; navigational and harbour infrastructure; defence networks; and land reclamation areas. Inspections revealed many maritime infrastructure sites demonstrate archaeological signatures, most of which were evident in the intertidal/ littoral/ shallow water zones, or have been buried by land reclamation projects.

Los autores presentan un panorama general sobre las relaciones entre las islas del litoral peruano y el resto del país y su función como paisaje marítimo cultural a través del tiempo, desde épocas prehispánicas hasta el presente, con énfasis en su rol como espacios sagrados, en su importancia económica y como puertos oceánicos.
Usando fuentes escritas tales como documentos etnohistóricos, crónicas y testimonios de viajeros, los autores compararán la información publicada con la evidencia arqueológica existente, tanto la recolectada durante la época de la explotación guanera en el siglo XIX como la de los proyectos arqueológicos sistemáticos llevados a cabo en las islas en los siglos XX y XXI, en sus espacios terrestres y subacuáticos.

The authors will present an overall picture about the relationship of the islands to the mainland in Peru, as part of the Maritime cultural Landscape over time, from prehispanic times to present day, emphasizing the islands role as sacred places, economic spaces, and harbors for oceanic crossroads.
Using written sources such as ethno historic documents, chronicles, reports, and travelogues, the authors will compare historic views of the islands with archaeological evidence collected from during the guano extraction in the 19th century and the systematic archaeological projects carried out on the islands in the 20th and 21st centuries, both in land and underwater.

A historical museum offers the great chance to reflect the cultural symptomatic of a region. Besides our inventory
work a desiderate of this reflection was evident. The so-called “Haffkahn“ is the symbol of the maritime
transfer during the industrialisation in the Stettin Lagoon. Besides this the “Haffkahn“ determined the maritime
infrastructure in general. The paper describes the new conception of the museum - a “Haffkahnmuseum“
based on three fundaments: a. the immobile variant in the town of Eggesin b. the mobile variant through the reconstruction of a ship as a floating museum, and c. the museum in the landscape by exhibiting maritime monuments
in the surrounding of the museum.

The research presented in this paper is part of the doctoral research of the author and focuses on the maritime cultural landscape of the former Zuiderzee (the Netherlands) between AD 1100 and 1400. The main aim
of this research is to reconstruct the medieval landscape and habitation by combining archaeological, historic and geological datasets. Involvement of geographic information systems like ArcGIS is necessary for combining the different datasets. The results of the interdisciplinary
and spatial analyses show distinct patterns between the past landscape, habitation and transportation. The preliminary results of the research were presented at the International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology (ISBSA) 14 in Gdańsk, Poland (September 2015).

Appendix 2 from:
Van Tilburg H, Watson TK, Faria K, Hoomanawanui K, Ho-Lastiama I, Ritte W, Maly K, Nahoopii M, Horcajo K, Kaupiko K, Ball D. 2017. A Guidance Document for Characterizing Native Hawaiian Cultural Landscapes. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Pacific OCS Region, Camarillo, CA. OCS Study BOEM 2017-023. 208 pages, with appendices.

Link to full report:
https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/environmental-stewardship/Environmental-Studies/Pacific-Region/Studies/2017-023.pdf

Deckers, P. 2018. Cultural convergence in a maritime context: language and material culture as parallel phenomena in the Early-medieval southern North Sea region. In Frisians and their North Sea Neighbours: From the Fifth Century to the Viking Age, edited by J. Hines and N.L. IJssennagger. Boydell Press, Woodbridge: 173–192.

Hội An was formally established as the Nguyễn Lord’s foreign trading port in the late sixteenth century. It was a major entrepôt in the East Asian trade network in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, attracting Japanese, Chinese, and European traders. It has been the subject of numerous historical studies which have emphasized the cosmopolitanism inherent in an international port. Archaeological investigation followed Hội An’s inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. These have focused on the influence of the Japanese and Chinese communities on the architecture of the town. This thesis builds upon these previous works to understand how the port and the town evolved during these two centuries.

This research employs a maritime cultural landscape approach to highlight the role of trade in the development of Hội An. Trade was the primary economic activity of the town, as such Hội An grew so as to always facilitate it. In addition, trade attracted various foreign communities who influenced the port through their traditions and their interactions with each other. The maritime cultural landscape approach helps understand this dual impact on Hội An. This thesis has thus established a timeline for the development of Hội An based on the interactions of Japanese, Chinese, and European traders in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

(English below)
De Zuiderzee is vanaf de late middeleeuwen tot de afsluiting in 1932 het dagelijkse vaargebied geweest van vele binnenschippers. Zij spelen een bescheiden rol binnen de maritieme geschiedschrijving van Nederland, omdat hun activiteiten nauwelijks sporen hebben achtergelaten in de archieven. Toch zijn er bronnen om deze tak van de scheepvaart te onderzoeken: de meer dan 450 scheepswrakken die hier vanaf de eerste inpolderingen tot en met recente duikoperaties zijn aangetroffen.

Dit proefschrift gaat dieper in op de betekenis van deze scheepsarcheologische vindplaatsen aan de hand van een casestudy: de turfvaart tussen 1550 en 1700. Onderzocht wordt in hoeverre de spectaculaire sociaaleconomische ontwikkeling die Holland in deze periode doormaakte, verband houdt met de Zuiderzee als centrum van een omvangrijk maritiem transportlandschap. Verschillende invalshoeken belichten het vervoer van turf over deze binnenzee: van macro-economische analyses tot een reconstructie van het dagelijkse leven van de turfschippers.

De historische maritieme archeologie van de turfvaart biedt zowel een vernieuwende kijk op het maritieme verleden van Nederland als een kader voor het interpreteren van scheepswrakken. Het beeld dat uit deze studie is ontstaan, zal bijdragen aan de herwaardering van het unieke erfgoed dat nog steeds voor een belangrijk deel verborgen ligt in de bodem van de voormalige Zuiderzee.

Summary

From the late Middle Ages up to its closure in 1932 the Zuiderzee harboured a substantial amount of trade routes for the daily transport of cargo in all directions. The inland skippers, although large in numbers, played a modest role in the Dutch maritime history, as their activities hardly left a significant trace in the paper archives. The main source of information of this maritime activity is the unique archaeological archive of more than 450 shipwrecks found in this area during land reclamation projects and recent dive investigations.

This PhD thesis features a case study that highlights the significance of these archaeological ship finds in relation to the maritime trade of peat, the main source of energy for pre-modern economy. It explores the extent to which the spectacular socio-economic development of Holland between 1550 and 1700 AD can be attributed to the Zuiderzee functioning as a hub in an extensive maritime transport landscape. The transport of peat across this inner sea is addressed from different angles, ranging from macro-economic analyses to the reconstruction of the daily routines of peat skippers.

The historical maritime archaeology of peat shipping offers a new historic perspective to the maritime past of The Netherlands and may well serve as a framework for future research into shipwrecks and their interpretation in a historical context. This PhD thesis contributes to a renewed appreciation for the unique cultural heritage that is still largely hidden in the seabed of the former Zuiderzee.






















Print on demand (October 1, 2021): http://www.barkhuis.nl/
Free download (September 23, 2021): https://research.rug.nl/nl/publications/de-zuiderzee-als-transportlandschap-historische-maritieme-archeol

Clustered along its sinuous shores, the inhabitants of the ancient Mediterranean harnessed the power and potential of the sea to widely varying degrees. For the Roman era, considerable emphasis has been placed on the expansive port networks and large‑scale directed exchange that linked cities across its tamed waters, yet the extent and practical impact of direct maritime access and opportunity beyond urban centers remains a critical question for a population that was still overwhelmingly rural. Using Cyprus as a case study, this paper incorporates GIS‑based analysis of marine and terrestrial topography as a means of exploring the spatial patterning of settlements and activity areas, providing a clearer picture of how simple coastal facilities and easy mobility on and around the island allowed for a distinctively regional scale of maritime economic activity. Centered around what might be considered generally as coastal landing sites, the rise in exchange, fishing, and probably market activities during the Roman (ca. 50 BCE–350 CE) and especially the late Roman (350–700 CE) period suggest that new maritime opportunities counterbalanced the earlier social and economic centrality of the island’s cities, and in doing so restructured the rhythms of rural economic prosperity and connectivity.

Nesta dissertação pretendemos estudar o funcionamento e as dinâmicas
portuárias de Cascais durante a expansão marítima portuguesa Quatrocentista, altura em que esta vila já se distinguia como centro económico exportador de um pequeno
hinterland onde se destacavam as produções provenientes de Colares e de Sintra.
Será dada especial atenção às vertentes de apoio à navegação e defesa costeira.
Neste sentido, e face às condicionantes geográficas, veremos as águas de Cascais como escala quase que obrigatória para todo o movimento marítimo com destino a Lisboa e o seu território como parte integrante de um complexo defensivo que se estendia de Sintra até à capital do Reino, o qual terá começado a ganhar forma durante o período de ocupação islâmica da Península Ibérica.

In this dissertation we intend to study the working methods and dynamics of the port of Cascais throughout the maritime expansion of the fifteenth century, when this community was the economic and trade centre of a small hinterland with most of the output coming from the region of Colares and Sintra.
Special attention will be given to the navigation support and coastal defence dimensions. In this sense, and in view of the geographical constraints, we will see Cascais waters as a mandatory stopover for all maritime motion with destination to Lisbon and its territory as a part of a defensive complex that extended itself from Sintra to the capital of the Kingdom, which had started to take shape during the Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.

En este artículo se analizan derroteros del golfo de México del siglo XVIII para analizar el paisaje cultural náutico del seno mexicano y a partir de ello comprender la tipología de buques que navegaron el golfo mexicano. A partir de la revisión del movimiento marítimo en las Gazetas de México se determinaron los buques más empleados en la comunicación portuaria de los puertos habilitados en el golfo de México.

This book re-examines the occupation of the lake basin at Lake Titicaca during the Tiwanaku period (500-1150 AD) using the concept of ‘lacustrine cultural landscape’. Considered as ‘cultures of the land’ (agriculture, pastoralism, etc.), the pre-Hispanic societies of Lake Titicaca developed many practices specific to ‘cultures of the sea’ (navigation, offerings, etc.). Whether politically, socio-culturally or ritually, the lake has had an impact on the evolution of these populations and has encouraged the emergence of practices that are inseparable from a lake area. Delaere proposes a new ‘vision’ of archaeology at Lake Titicaca by integrating the lacustrine factor into the interpretation of Tiwanaku cultures, and by reconciling our present knowledge of both terrestrial and underwater ‘archaeologies’.

Coastal communities have been widely explored by various archaeological researchers, all of whom have applied and developed their own approaches to interpreting landscapes. Despite the diversity of maritime cultural studies worldwide, terrestrial and marine areas are still frequently studied in isolation, and the field has yet to develop a uniformly accepted theoretical paradigm to guide research. This thesis explores a new approach that amalgamates key theoretical and methodological aspects of other disparate cultural landscape studies to provide a new way to examine spatial social organisation in maritime communities.

The community of Queenscliff (Victoria) is used to explore the problem of how to understand the archaeology of non-indigenous communities living and working across the land/sea divide. It is argued that maritime communities do not necessarily perceive a discontinuity between marine and terrestrial areas, even though each region may be differentially experienced and participated in. Consequently, to fully understand how a maritime community operates, it is necessary to investigate the complex relationships that exist between mariners and terrestrial-oriented community members, and in particular how each group occupies and utilizes the water and land. To this end, a cultural landscape approach will be developed which allows us to overcome the traditional disciplinary and environmental boundaries of historical and maritime archaeology.

The dissertation investigates a variety of methods for collecting and integrating the disparate documentary, oral and archaeological data sets available to the researcher of the Australian colonial period. In particular it seeks a broader understanding of the archaeological expressions of maritime activity in this community, situated both above and below the waterline. The adoption of a thematic approach to distinguish between maritime industries recognised the disparities/similarities in the way various groups experience and create landscape. Observations of social and practical behaviour were linked to relict material cultural remains through the innovative use of GIS technology that facilitated thematic comparative analysis of multiple incongruent data sets. The subsequent ethno-archaeological observations that linked maritime culture with archaeological sites have great utility in other analogous nautical cultures.

The methodological application of the amalgamated theoretical paradigm using a thematic approach proved successful in the case study area and several key outcomes are addressed. Maritime cultural landscapes are only be accessible by accessing disparate data sources, which varied widely in both their type and availability between maritime themes. Alternative data sets provide significant insights into maritime culture that may not be accessible in traditional documentary sources, and GIS data representation proved to be essential for management and interpretation of the ethno-archaeological interrelationships between thematic landscapes. The cognitive driving mechanisms of several common types of maritime thematic landscapes in Colonial Australia are now better understood, as are their potential data sources and archaeological characterizations. These observations have great utility in other contemporary areas where one or more of the data sets might be missing or incomplete. The successful utility of this approach is dependent upon undertaking manageable levels of thematic investigation, and their subsequent comparative examination. Final analysis of the implications and effectiveness of this new amalgamated methodological approach and theoretical paradigm is used to provide recommendations for future directions in cultural landscape research. The thesis has developed and demonstrated a new methodology that enables wider analysis of behavioural and social aspects of maritime heritage sites within a broad regional framework, has demonstrated the range of themes available for investigation, and outlined new ways of accessing cultural meanings imbued in landscape, to provide better understandings of maritime communities..

St. Eustatius, a small island in the northeastern Lesser Antilles, was one of the busiest ports in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World. Contested between the Dutch, French, and English, the island attracted thousands of ships a year and became one of the most cosmopolitan places in the New World. Moreover, the island played an important role in the American War of Independence (1775-1783), during which large quantities of arms, ammunition, and gunpowder were shipped to the fledgling United States through St. Eustatius.

Relics of this turbulent past are found all over the island and in its surrounding waters. These include warehouses in the historic port district, fortifications all around the island, sugar plantations in the countryside, and a variety of underwater archaeological sites such as shipwrecks, anchorage areas, and docks.

Through extensive archaeological and documentary research, this study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the maritime cultural landscape of St. Eustatius over the past four centuries. It focuses on bridging the gap between the marine and terrestrial worlds and demonstrates that in order to truly make sense of the complex interactions, events, and processes that shaped this maritime world, both land and sea need to be studied in relation to each other.

The practice of beaching seafaring ships in the ancient Mediterranean is a widely accepted phenomenon. This paper examines the evidence for beaching and outlines the various methods, tools and technology employed. While habitual beaching for seafaring vessels is testified for the Geometric Period Aegean, for later periods the evidence is primarily negative. With the increasing robustness of the structure and weight of ships, the addition of the ram for naval vessels, and developing economic circumstances leading to the necessity of round merchant vessels, habitual beaching became impractical also in this region. In the Mediterranean, where the low tidal range practically precludes the technique of tide beaching, both galleys and merchantmen were largely restricted to anchoring and mooring.

Lake level fluctuations, loose silt bottom, lack of natural anchorages, and on-shore prevailing winds, endangered navigation on the Dead Sea and prevented the long-term planning, construction and maintenance of shore-based harbour installations. A recently discovered artificial stone mound off the northern shore of the Dead Sea is a maritime-related archaeological find exposed by the drying out of the lake. The construction of this site and another site nearby inside the lake away from its historic shore was intended to create an open-water mooring designed to overcome some of the for cited challenges. In turn they allowed the use of this economically and strategically important part of the lake by maritime traffic.

Cette dissertation doctorale propose de réexaminer l’étude de l’occupation du basin lacustre du lac Titicaca durant la période Tiwanaku (500-1150 PCN) en développant le concept de paysage culturel lacustre. Souvent considérées comme des ‘cultures de la terre’ (agriculture, pastoralisme, etc.), les sociétés préhispaniques du lac Titicaca ont, en réalité, développé, de nombreuses pratiques propres aux ‘cultures de la mer’ (navigation, offrandes, etc.). Que ce soit sur le plan politique, socioculturel ou rituel, le lac a eu une incidence sur l’évolution de ces populations et a favorisé l’émergence de pratiques indissociables à un espace lacustre. Les discussions proposent une nouvelle ‘vision’ de l’archéologie au lac Titicaca en intégrant le facteur lacustre dans l’interprétation des cultures Tiwanaku, et en conciliant nos connaissances actuelles des ‘archéologies’ du lac Titicaca, qu’elles soient ‘terrestres’ ou ‘subaquatiques’.

This cultural landscape approach may provide a new way of assessing regional studies for maritime archaeology. The consideration of physical and cognitive aspects of sea usage can identify and analyse key characteristics of seascape construction, which is then applied to detect this structuring in the Gippsland region of Victoria. The role played by risk management in seascape structuring is further investigated, and the implications for the future direction of maritime archaeological research and heritage management are discussed.

The study documented social and archaeological values of the coastal area between Papa and Boera, PNG (also known as LNG 152). The study included estuary and offshore maritime areas, and recorded both indigenous and maritime archaeological sites, in addition to indigenous cultural areas. The project was undertaken as part of a wider social assessment as part of the LNG project.

The term «Maritime Cultural Landscape» was first enunciated by Christer Westerdahl (Westerdahl, 1992; Westerdahl, 2011). This theory includes the analysis of an archaeological site or object not as an independent entity but as an integral part of the Maritime Cultural Landscape. It is based on a combination of archaeological data related to maritime and naval activities and the geographical and oceanographic aspect. Some of the many data that can be analyzed are plans and historical notices. The combination of those plans and latest archaeological data, with the help of the TIG, can explain a range of occupational
and territorial exploitation strategies.

Many studies of maritime site formation processes have concentrated upon the various natural and to a lesser extent cultural processes physically impacting the remnants of the vessel (shipwreck) and closely associated artefacts, while ignoring wider influences that have resulted in the current archaeological records.  This chapter explores how cultural processes not only affect the transformation of a ship into a shipwreck site, but also how continuing human interactions can produce other archaeological sites that are equally important for understanding the archaeology of shipwrecks. In addition, we consider how wider cultural practices, systems and ideologies also warrant investigation when researching behavioural aspects of shipwreck site formation processes.

El estudio del paisaje cultural marítimo de un sistema portuario medieval exige pluridisciplinariedad de la investigación. Implica no solo un conocimiento teórico extenso sobre la zona y el marco cronológico de estudio, sino también la comprensión del objeto de estudio como una cultura marítima, con la perspectiva náutica que ello requiere. Este artículo, enmarcado en el trabajo de fin de máster inédito «Estudio del sistema portuario de la costa de Almería desde el análisis del paisaje cultural marítimo, siglos VIII-XII d.C.», se reflexionará sobre algunos conceptos clave para el estudio del paisaje cultural marítimo, y sobre algunos de los elementos que formaban parte del sistema portuario de Almería en época medieval.
Palabras Clave: Almería; paisaje cultural marítimo; época medieval; cultura marítima; elementos del paisaje.

Abstract: The study of the maritime cultural landscape of a medieval port system requires a multidisciplinary approach. It implies not only an extensive theoretical knowledge about the area and the chronological framework of study, but also the understanding of the object of study as a maritime culture, with the nautical perspective that this requires. This article, framed in the developing unpublished master project «Study of the port system of the coast of Almeria from the analysis of the maritime cultural landscape, centuries VIII-XII a.D.», we’ll explain some concepts for the study of maritime cultural landscape, and some of the elements that were part of the port system of Almeria in medieval times.
Keywords: Almería; maritime cultural landscape; Middle Ages; Maritime cultures; landscape elements.