Three-quarters of the Earth is covered by water, and communication between areas separated by oceans, seas and rivers requires traversing these waterways using watercraft. These contacts have not only allowed the effective transportation of people and goods but also the spread of ideas between the different civilizations affecting the course of history.

Beneath the surface of our oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands a physical record of humankind in the form of shipwrecks, submerged cities, harbors, and other traces of our past are found. Water-borne transportation has allowed exploration of much of the globe and facilitated the rise and fall of great empires. The majority of marine archaeologists specialize in the study of nautical archaeology: the study of the construction and operation of all types historic watercraft, other types of sites include inundated land sites; sinkholes or bogs where people placed offerings or buried their dead; cities and harbors now submerged by sea level change or earthquakes; and dwellings, agricultural, and industrial sites along rivers, bays, and lakes.

Many laws and regulations require that sites be located, inventoried, and studied by qualified archaeologists before they are impacted or destroyed by development. Often submerged sites such as shipwrecks pose an obstruction to modern human endeavors; shipping lanes, seabed mining, commercial fishing, and oil and natural gas drilling can be affected by submerged cultural resources. Studying where and how ships have wrecked in the past has lead to developments in safer marine navigation, with the placement of lighthouses, safety beacons, etc.

In light of its importance the Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, (Deemed University), Pune, and the National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, have made collaboration to study coastal archaeological sites in India. A one year diploma course in Maritime /Underwater Archaeology is thus being introduced. The experts of Marine Archaeology Wing of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute, (Deemed University), Pune, and other concerned renowned research institutes will conduct the course.