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Open research questions in Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

138 gap statements mined from Maritime and Coastal Archaeology papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 1,281 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • Advanced decomposition of human remains. Lack of documentary evidence linking victims to a specific departure event. Complexity of oceanographic and atmospheric processes affecting drifting objects.

    Operational Ocean Modelling in Support of Forensic Investigations: A Backward Lagrangian Drift Modelling for Migrant Shipwreck Reconstruction · 2026 · DOI

  • Lack of a methodology for reconstructing the most probable departure location of human remains recovered at sea. Limited application of oceanographic and marine circulation models to forensic investigations.

    Operational Ocean Modelling in Support of Forensic Investigations: A Backward Lagrangian Drift Modelling for Migrant Shipwreck Reconstruction · 2026 · DOI

  • The need for non-destructive and non-intrusive methods for documenting underwater cultural heritage. The challenge of accessing and preserving underwater cultural heritage in difficult environments. The gap in innovative methodologies, applications, and emerging technological solutions for investigating and preserving archaeological materials.

    Advanced Technologies for Maritime and Underwater Archaeology—2nd Edition · 2026 · DOI

  • However, the overall organization of these salt-making operations remains poorly understood.

    BYOP (Bring Your own Pot)? petrographic perspectives on seasonal practices and ceramic mobility in the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras (700–1520 CE) · 2026 · DOI

  • Having served a wide variety of purposes, these archaeological mounds are frequently described as heavily understudied yet fragile archives of past human behaviour and paleoenvironments.

    Artificial dwelling mounds in Dutch wetlands: Regional archives of human-landscape interactions (500 BCE – Present) · 2026 · DOI

  • This is still lacking for many regions, including the Northern Adriatic Sea, one of the largest submerged landmasses in Europe and a region very sensitive to landscape changes due to its fluvially-influenced geomorphological setting.

    Palaeolandscape reconstructions for the Northern Adriatic: Inundation models, depositional environments, and potential archaeological implications · 2026 · DOI

  • Our ability to approach such debates, however, is limited by our knowledge of paleogeographic developments at a human scale.

    Palaeolandscape reconstructions for the Northern Adriatic: Inundation models, depositional environments, and potential archaeological implications · 2026 · DOI

  • However, little is known about its exact contribution in terms of natural resources exploitation and land use, nor regarding the general Late Holocene landscape evolution of the area.

    Reconstructing the Mid- to Late Holocene human-environments interactions in Cape Corsica (Corsica Island, Western Mediterranean) based on sedimentology, pollen analyses and geochemistry · 2025 · DOI

  • However, fishing activities during the Visigothic Kingdom (5th-8th centuries) in the Iberian Peninsula remain underexplored, especially in comparison to other areas such as Italy.

    Fishing and the Church: Ichthyoarchaeological analyses of the visigothic settlement of Aiguafreda de Dalt site (Catalonia, Spain, 7th c.) · 2025 · DOI

  • The spatial layout of these workshops where the chaîne opératoire is performed and where the agency of potters is manifested has not been explored fully.

    “L’ espace opératoire de la chaîne opératoire”: Ethnoarchaeological approaches to spatial patterning of pottery workshops in the Mediterranean · 2025 · DOI

  • What prompted the shift remains unclear in the historical records, but it must have represented a strategic collective decision and major civic investment.

    Harbor geoarchaeology and urban change in the ancient Knidia (SW Türkiye) · 2025 · DOI

  • Few studies have been carried out on bioarchaeological assemblages from medieval sites in Eastern Arabia, particularly for zooarchaeological remains, and limited data exists on the fishing practices employed at that time and in that region.

    “I ate fish at Kalhât such as I have never tasted”: Fishing practices in the medieval harbour of Qalhât of the Sultanate of Oman · 2024 · DOI

  • Poorly understood and difficult to protect, these vulnerable, prehistoric landscapes provide specific challenges for heritage management.

    Winds of Change: Urgent Challenges and Emerging Opportunities in Submerged Prehistory, a Perspective from the North Sea · 2024 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding about how engagement with maritime heritage can enhance individual and community wellbeing. There is a need to demonstrate the value of participation in heritage activities for mental health.

    Cultural immersion into maritime heritage: Our experiences in using maritime heritage to enhance wellbeing · 2026 · DOI

  • The study only examines one archaeological site. The sample size is limited to 20 individuals.

    Skeletons in the permafrost: Exploring climate-driven heritage loss and occupational health at the early modern whaling burial site of Likneset, Svalbard · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding of the effects of climate change on archaeological sites in the Arctic. There is a need for integrated taphonomic and osteological analyses of these sites.

    Skeletons in the permafrost: Exploring climate-driven heritage loss and occupational health at the early modern whaling burial site of Likneset, Svalbard · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of clear documentary claims. The presence of British-period artifacts. The need to distinguish French foundational engineering from British modifications.

    Oak Island as a Two-Phase Naval Logistics Site: French Engineering (1680–1714) and Limited British Repurposing (1720–1761) · 2026 · DOI

  • The two maps have been archived separately for 300 years. There is a lack of understanding of the history of Oak Island.

    Oak Island History Rewritten — The Two Maps That Belong Together How the Grande Carte and Le Port de la Haive Prove La Have Was a Systematic Fleet Rade in 1686 Companion Paper to the Dual-Map Poster — Prepared for Jerald Harrah / oak.island.explained · 2026 · DOI

  • Lack of understanding of French military engineering techniques. Misinterpretation of the cross as a treasure marker.

    NOLAN'S CROSS IS FRENCH MILITARY DESIGN: The 1688 French Dry-Dock Careening System at Oak Island · 2026 · DOI

  • Conversely, the Middle to Final Bronze Age and pre-Christian era were characterized by a major recovery of the maquis and scarce evidence of land use.

    Reconstructing the Mid- to Late Holocene human-environments interactions in Cape Corsica (Corsica Island, Western Mediterranean) based on sedimentology, pollen analyses and geochemistry · 2025 · DOI

  • Land-bridges are key regions of human connectivity, yet how geography affected peoples' movement during flooding is poorly understood.

    The palaeogeography of the Bass Strait land-bridge, a vital zone of human and biological connectivity across southeastern Australia · 2025 · DOI

  • Although there are many sunken ships along coastlines and in the open seas, the salvage process of a sunken ship has rarely been reported.

    Novel wreck salvaging method using curved rectangular pipe basing method: A case study of “Yangtze River Estuary II” ancient shipwreck salvage project · 2024 · DOI

  • These directions are expected to shape the next stage of research in maritime and underwater…

    Advanced Technologies for Maritime and Underwater Archaeology—2nd Edition · 2026 · DOI

  • Further research and targeted excavation guided by this model. Prioritizing distinguishing French foundational engineering from British modifications. Investigating the functional purpose of the site.

    Oak Island as a Two-Phase Naval Logistics Site: French Engineering (1680–1714) and Limited British Repurposing (1720–1761) · 2026 · DOI

  • Multilaterally, the joint management of the MS Estonia site by Sweden, Finland, and Estonia exemplifies how shared stewardship could prioritize memorial protection and technical cooperation.79 Bilaterally, the partnership between France and Egypt in archaeological research on shipwrecks in Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor, notably at Portus Magnus, underscores a commitment to shared scientific missions.80 This pragmatic…

    Legal Divergence and Cooperative Governance of Underwater Cultural Heritage: A Comparative Study of China, Japan, and Korea · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

Most recent work

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Lack of documentary evidence linking victims to a specific departure event (“Operational Ocean Modelling in Support of Forensic Investigations: A Backward…”, 2026); (2) The overall organization of these salt-making operations remains poorly understood (“BYOP (Bring Your own Pot)? petrographic perspectives on seasonal practices and…”, 2026); (3) This is still lacking for many regions, including the Northern Adriatic Sea, one of the largest submerged landmasses in Europe and a region very sensitive to landscape changes due to its fluvially-influenced geomorphological setting (“Palaeolandscape reconstructions for the Northern Adriatic: Inundation models,…”, 2026); (4) There is a lack of understanding about how engagement with maritime heritage can enhance individual and community wellbeing (“Cultural immersion into maritime heritage: Our experiences in using maritime…”, 2026); (5) There is a lack of understanding of the effects of climate change on archaeological sites in the Arctic (“Skeletons in the permafrost: Exploring climate-driven heritage loss and…”, 2026). 138 gap statements have been mined from Maritime and Coastal Archaeology papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 1,281 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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