Meet the Expert: Maritime Archaeologist Martijn Manders
This year dr. Martijn Manders, maritime and underwater archaeologist at Leiden University, has appeared in the media multiple times. His research as a maritime archaeologist has interested many show hosts and journalists. He is especially asked to speak about his research on Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship the Rooswijk.
Martijns research is focused on underwater cultural heritage management on a global scale. At the moment, he has a special interest in in situ preservation in underwater cultural heritage management. Next to his work for the university, Martijn is Head of the Maritime Programme at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) .
At the beginning of this year, a well-known Dutch children's programme, Klokhuis (in Dutch), broadcasted an episode on the shipwreck of VOC ship ‘de Rooswijk’. Martijn explains how underwater archaeology could help discovering the artifacts that were on board. In March, Martijn Manders has been to Australia to strengthen cooperation in the field of maritime heritage. Dutch Culture documented a part of this visit.
The international media found Martijn this summer; he was briefly interviewed by BBC News in July on how new shipwreck's secrets were revealed by Dutch and UK divers, who discovered the wreck of the Rooswijk. The same month also The Times wrote an article on the Rooswijk discoveries (silver coins) and the Daily Mail published an article on the Silver coins that were found in the Rooswijk.
On Sunday August 19, the National Geographic programme 'Drain the Oceans' focussed on Manders' excavation of the De Rooswijk.
Back to Holland, Martijn was a guest at the programme M (in Dutch)in August, again to explain more about the excavations, conserving the findings and the story behind the Rooswijk. On October 8th, Martijn was on the Dutch television again, at the daily show Tijd voor Max (in Dutch), explaining the importance to rescue shipwrecks and telling the story of the Batavia.
Martijn 'resisted against' the degradation of underwater cultural heritage in a radio broadcast of ivoox.com (in Dutch). From ‘20 onwards, he explains the dangers of underwater heritage, such as recreational divers who take away parts of the ships.
And last week Martijn gave a StepTalk at the Wijnhaven (The Hague) on Archaeology below sea level for all students of Leiden University to get a peak view on what Underwater Archaeology can mean in society.
Picture on this page is from Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed