Shipwreck Hauntography: Underwater Ruins and the Uncanny

The resurrection model rests on the assumption that the wreck is a passive entity.

“The model rests on the assumption that the wreck is a passive entity, despite its active presence in composing underwater habitats, a presence that in the vast majority of cases has persisted far longer than the ship ever functioned on the surface of the water.”

The resurrection model replicates extractive colonial land relations.

“Additional to the resurrection model's roots in Christian theology and its imperialism, it clearly replicates extractive colonial land relations, even if-or especially becausethe land in question is below a body of water-a body that is often conceptualized as feminine [11].”

The resurrection model places the scholar in the position of savior by construing the wreck as a dead ship and resurrecting the ship from the wreck.

“This model places the scholar in the position of savior by construing the wreck as a dead ship and commencing to resurrect the ship from the wreck.”

The resurrection model has dominated nautical archaeology from the discipline's outset and became the dominant protocol globally.

“The resurrection, or savior-scholar, model has dominated nautical archaeology from the discipline's outset, and can be seen in famous examples, like the Mary Rose and the Vasa, whose corpses have been scientifically exhumed from their watery graves and placed on display in the utopian space of a museum.”

Because there is a transference of the human body onto the form of the ship, we tend to project our own anxieties of decay and death onto the wrecked ship.

“In psychological terms, because there is a transference of the human body onto the form of the ship, we tend to project our own anxieties of decay and death onto the form of the wrecked ship [11,38].”

Terrestrial archaeology has long grappled with its colonial legacy, but maritime archaeology lags behind in discussions of how power relations influence interpretation and management of underwater cultural heritage.

“Although terrestrial archaeology has long grappled with the discipline's colonial legacy, its maritime counterpart lags behind in discussions of how power relations influence interpretation and management of underwater cultural heritage [10,11].”

Scientific resurrection of ships from wrecks assumes that the wrecked ship's rightful place is a heavenly zone of immortality, preserved eternally with pixels or PEG.

“scientific resurrection of ships from wrecks assumes that the wrecked ship's rightful place is a heavenly zone of immortality, preserved eternally with pixels or conserved eternally with polyethylene glycol (PEG) [11].”

The resurrectionist model is now the dominant protocol globally.

“This procedure follows the resurrectionist model typical of maritime archaeology in the West, now the dominant protocol globally, where the scholar acts as savior by lifting entire wrecks from watery graves and promising to grant them immortality in utopian museum spaces.”