Slovenian marine and coastal archeological heritage

The sea along the Slovenian coast was long thought to be empty and devoid of interest as far as vestiges of the past were concerned. Some decades ago, however, fishers began reporting on wooden timbers caught in their nets, amateur fishermen were observing wooden hulls during breath-hold diving on undisclosed locations and divers with autonomous diving gear were relating fascinating shipwrecks from World War II, which revealed quite a different picture. The sea has since been scientifically investigated, and in the last two decades, members of the Scientific Research Section of the Port of Koper Divers’ Society have compiled a list of 20 sunken objects, while new data has also been acquired by the high-resolution bathymetric survey of the Slovenian seafloor in 2006-2008. The cultural heritage register at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia today includes 52 underwater areas, both coastline and sea, with cultural remains. However, more than 90 observed underwater areas which are not in National cultural heritage register are recognised as anthropogenic changes which are connected to the transgression of Adriatic sea to the Nord Adriatic Sea finished around 5000 years ago. Almost 37 registered sites are wrecks among them also the earliest known shipwreck in Slovenia, dating to the Roman period. This register represents the first step towards fulfilling the commitments of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.