Building Regional Collaboration in Maritime Heritage: Introducing the ASEAN Underwater/Maritime Archaeology Association (AUMAA)

Shinatria Adhityatama1*, Bobby C. Orillaneda2, Ligaya Lacsina, CHENG Ng Jian Michael3, and Pornnatcha Sankhaprasit4

Southeast Asia represents one of the world’s most dynamic maritime regions, where seafaring traditions, trade networks, and coastal interactions have shaped cultural development for millennia. Its waters preserve a remarkable range of underwater cultural heritage, including shipwrecks, submerged landscapes, ancient ports, maritime cultural landscapes, and among others. Despite this significance, research capacity, heritage management frameworks, and professional collaboration in underwater and maritime archaeology remain uneven across the region. The ASEAN Underwater/Maritime Archaeology Association (AUMAA) was established to address these challenges by creating a regional platform that connects scholars, heritage practitioners, and institutions working on maritime and underwater archaeology throughout Southeast Asia. AUMAA aims to foster interdisciplinary research, strengthen professional networks, and support capacity building through workshops, training programs, and collaborative field initiatives. The association brings together maritime archaeologists to promote knowledge exchange and develop shared standards for research and heritage protection. This paper introduces the vision, organizational framework, and strategic objectives of AUMAA to the wider Asia-Pacific scholarly community at the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Congress 2026 in Yogyakarta, highlighting the importance of regional cooperation in advancing maritime archaeological research and safeguarding underwater cultural heritage across Southeast Asia.