A geophysical approach to the fruition and protection of underwater cultural landscapes. Examples from the Bay of Napoli, southern Italy.

The underwater cultural resources can be divided into two parts: 1) wreck sites, i.e. sunken ships and aircraft, and any material associ-ated with such vessels; 2) landscapes and sites, predominantly historic and prehistoric but also more recent structures (e.g. harbours and quays), inundated by rising sea levels. However, the history and her-itage of an area is not only represented by tangible artefacts left behind from a previous era, but in how these artefacts shape the modern underwater landscape of today1. In this meaning, an under-water cultural landscape represents the relationship between man and nature and the resulting impact the two have had on one another. Among new technologies that enable representation of the sub-marine seascapes, marine geophysical surveys provide fast and cost-effective tools now widely applied to the reconnaissance and man-agement of underwater cultural and natural resources. Geophysical surveys are non-destructive methods of investigation that allow to preserve the artefacts and landscape sites as well as the context in which they are found. This is of special relevance since maritime archaeological heritage is a non-renewable resource which is lost forever if destroyed. They can therefore be used for the non-de-structive detection, imaging, research, inspection and monitoring of submerged sites.