heritage Article The Innovative and State of the Art Public Access Management of Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Timmy Gambin 1 , Maja Sausmekat 2, * and Darko Kovacevic 2   Citation: Gambin, T.; Sausmekat, M.; Kovacevic, D. The Innovative and State of the Art Public Access Management of Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage. Heritage 2021, 4, 3365–3381. https://doi.org/10.3390/ heritage4040187 Academic Editors: Fabio Bruno, Barbara Davidde, Pari Kalamara, Angelos Manglis, Dimitris Kourkoumelis and Michela Ricca Received: 26 August 2021 Accepted: 9 October 2021 Published: 13 October 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Department of Classics and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta; timmy.gambin@um.edu.mt 2 Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit, ex-Naval Bakery, Vittoriosa Waterfront, BRG 1721 Vittoriosa, Malta; darko.kovacevic@gov.mt * Correspondence: maja.sausmekat@gov.mt Abstract: The obligation to preserve underwater cultural heritage is a core principle of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. A key element of this obligation is a balance of scientific research, protection, and the promotion of responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites. Such a balance requires the setting up of a network of communication between the tourism and heritage sectors on the one hand and the maritime and diving communities on the other hand. A variety of approaches have been developed to promote responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites, and since the vast majority of the public does not dive, this also includes the development of virtual access. In Malta, maritime archaeology can be traced to humble and sporadic beginnings in the 1950s. The following decades brought a growing interest in diving activities and a rising number of diving schools and clubs. Whilst Malta has today established itself as a diving tourism destination, responsible access to underwater cultural heritage sites was not always entrenched in dive operations or institutionally recognized. The protection and management of underwater cultural heritage has recently been firmly established within Heritage Malta, the national agency for museums, conservations, and cultural heritage. This paper is intended to outline the trajectory of Malta’s underwater cultural heritage management and to present the innovative and state of the art public access system that is managed by the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit within Heritage Malta. Keywords: Underwater Cultural Heritage; heritage management; public access 1. Introduction The Maltese Islands are located in the centre of the Mediterranean, at the crossroads of the east–west and north–south divide. Its central location has created an inextricable link between the history of Malta and the maritime history and activity of the Mediterranean Sea (Figure 1). The earliest ceramic remains from the site of G¯ har Dalam on Malta provide evidence of human occupation that can be traced to 7000 cal BP. The ceramic evidence shares decorative elements with the Neolithic occupation of Stentinello, Sicily, providing a maritime connection between the two islands [1,2]. The megalithic stone remains, or ‘temples’, of Malta’s Late Neolithic period (6100–4500 cal BP), have been described as having ‘a very special relationship to the sea’ [3] (p. 260). The sea levels of Late Neolithic Malta were the same as today, and Grima (2005) [3] argued that the distribution of monuments in the landscape at locations with access to the sea provides evidence for travel and subsistence considerations [3]. Maritime connections have also been established through the presence of imported objects such as obsidian from Lipari and Pantelleria and red ochre, flint, and miniature axes traced to Calabria and Mount Etna, Sicily [1,2]. Later periods of Maltese history, such as the Phoenician, Punic, and Roman periods, are well-documented both on land and underwater, a prime example being the Punic Temple located at the tip of the Ras il-Wardija promontory and the Phoenician shipwreck located off the same promontory at a Heritage 2021, 4, 3365–3381. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040187 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/heritage