Recently Underwater Archaeology has been a lot in the spotlight in Aruba. However, our island has a trajectory of more than 20 years dedicated to our Underwater Cultural Heritage. The Museo Arqueologico Nacional Aruba (MANA) played a crucial role in this trajectory. Investigation done by archaeologist and Head of the Collection and Investigation Department, drs. Raymundo Dijkhoff, made an inventory of the archaeological reserves under water, of the past and for the future. This formed the basis for different national and international collaborations, which ultimately resulted in the collaboration between MANA and the international philanthropic company Inkfish LLC, who’s currently conducting a multi-beam survey of the sea floor in Aruba’s territorial waters.
Yet long before it came this far, the desk-based research (using all existent sources for a register of Maritime sites) carried out in 2021 by drs. Dijkhoff, already created other important opportunities for Aruba where MANA received the collaboration of the Ministery of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and ‘Rijksdienst Cultureel Erfgoed’ (RCE) in the Netherlands. As a direct effect from this, a collaboration formed between RCE and MANA that has been going on for 5 straight years.
In 2021 a Dutch Caribbean Maritime Heritage Workgroup (to create awareness, capacitation, networking, and collaboration) was created after the CAS islands (Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten) in 2019 formally asked the Minister of Culture of The Netherlands to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. In this group of experts on cultural heritage, MANA’s archaeologist drs. Raymundo Dijkhoff represents Aruba. In 2021 he participated in an intensive virtual Underwater Archaeology course of UNESCO and he was invited to give a lecture during the international seminar “Overview of Underwater Cultural Heritage Management in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
One of the results of the collaboration with OCW and RCE is the production of a video in 3 languages, Papiamento, Dutch and English, funded by RCE, informing the public about the importance of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. You can watch this video via the link on the MANA website www.manaruba.org , the Face Book page National Archaeological Museum Aruba, Instagram Museo Arkeologico and on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIKTm7ZGrEc
The collaboration with RCE culminated in 2025 in a 3 weeklong theoretical and practical training about the Underwater Cultural Heritage Management which took place in Aruba. RCE asked MANA as the organization and logistic partner. A total of 16 Underwater Cultural Heritage Professionals of the Caribbean islands in the Dutch Kingdom participated in this very intensive course, guided by professor dr. Martijn Manders of Leiden University. From Aruba, archaeologists drs. Raymundo Dijkhoff and drs. Harold Kelly from NAMA, marine ranger Shane Thielman of Aruba Conservation Foundation and ecologist Oriana Wouters Msc. of IDNOVA participated.
The RCE training’s target was to capacitate a minimal number of professionals on maritime heritage on the islands of the Dutch Caribbean, to create a regional network community and to give skills directly applicable on the respective islands. This was also meant as a preparation for the ratification of the UNESCO Convention (2001) on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. The convention’s ratification must take place to implement a better management and protection of our cultural underwater heritage.
RCE is also funding maritime heritage management projects in Aruba, of which some already started in 2026 in collaboration with amongst others the Aruba Conservation Foundation (ACF) and IDNOVA. A group of local divers and community heritage carriers, under the guidance of Anthony Hagedoorn and Lui Samanez, united to help at some of the research sites.
Meanwhile, in December 2025, dr. Matt Carter of Inkfish contacted MANA on a recommendation of professor dr. Manders of RCE and is currently leading the sea floor survey around Aruba, using the “desk-based research” as a basis to determine the exact locations and primary documentation of the nautical sites (ships) described and identified in the 2021 investigation which is continually up-dated with more information. The data from Inkfish is very important in the development of Maritime Archaeology in Aruba, it is the first base-line research of nautical underwater sites (there are also other types of sites), which will be instrumental to establish a more structured management of this important heritage of our island.
