Underwater archaeology in India remains a nascent discipline despite a 7,500-km coastline. Examine, with reference to recent international collaborations.

Q. Underwater archaeology in India remains a nascent discipline despite a 7,500-km coastline. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Underwater archaeology studies submerged cultural heritage — wrecks, ports and drowned settlements. Though India's long coastline and Indian Ocean trade past offer vast potential, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) set up a dedicated Underwater Archaeology Wing (UAW) only in 2001 [3], and its work has stayed limited — a nascent discipline now being revived through international partnership.

Why the discipline remains nascent - Late institutional start: the UAW was created decades after the ASI's founding, and its efforts have been episodic rather than continuous — Dwarka saw offshore work in 2005–07, revived only in 2025 [2][3]. - Narrow geographical spread: exploration has clustered around a few sites such as Dwarka, Bet Dwarka and Poompuhar, leaving most of the Coromandel, Konkan and island coasts unsurveyed [3]. - Capacity constraints: the field needs trained diver-archaeologists plus costly remote-sensing platforms (side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profilers, magnetometers); the 2025 Dwarka team comprised just five archaeologists [2]. - Legal gaps: the AMASR Act, 1958 was framed for land monuments, and India is not a State Party to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, weakening the protection regime for offshore sites.

Recent international collaborations as a corrective - The ASI–National Museum of Denmark (Njord Centre) MoU (2026) to locate and document the Danish ship Oresund, wrecked off Karaikal, Puducherry, in 1619 CE, is the UAW's first international collaborative project [1][4]. - It transfers non-invasive survey technology and method, building Indian capacity without disturbing the site [1]. - It adds a cultural-heritage track to the India–Denmark partnership, and recovers a lesser-known strand of Indo-European maritime contact predating Tranquebar (1620) [4].

Collaboration therefore addresses precisely the deficits — skills, technology and documentation — that kept the discipline nascent. Institutionalising such tie-ups, expanding trained personnel, creating a national inventory of wreck sites, and aligning the legal framework with the UNESCO Convention would let India's maritime heritage, showcased through projects like the Lothal maritime complex, finally match the promise of its 7,500-km coast.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. ASI and National Museum of Denmark Signed MoU for Underwater Archaeological Investigation of Historic Danish Ship Oresund — PIB, Ministry of Culture — MoU, Oresund wrecked 1619 off Karaikal, non-invasive survey, first international collaboration of UAW 2. Underwater Archaeology Wing Begins Explorations in Dwarka — PIB — 2005–07 Dwarka work, 2025 revival, five-member team 3. Underwater Archaeology — Archaeological Survey of India — UAW established 2001; sites explored (Dwarka, Bet Dwarka, Poompuhar) 4. Tranquebar — National Museum of Denmark — Danish arrival in India and Tranquebar settlement, 1620