The Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture, through the Regional Directorate for Culture, will hold a conference entitled "Underwater Archaeology in the Azores. Realities, strategies and challenges" to be delivered by Paulo Alexandre Monteiro next Tuesday, March 14, at Silveira e Paulo Palace in Angra do Heroísmo at 6 PM.
 
Underwater archaeology in the Azores has played a leading role in this field, being the most pioneering area of archaeology in the Region. In this regard, the Regional Directorate for Culture has pursued a strategy for this cultural heritage that involves its promotion as a tourism product. It is also focused on its safeguarding as a heritage asset that brings together a common historical heritage of all national that passed through the archipelago, the port of call of the Atlantic.
 
This strategy follows the works carried out in Angra do Heroísmo bay during the 1990s.
 
Archaeologist Paulo Alexandre Monteiro is a member of the Navy Academy and an associate researcher at the Institutes of Archaeology and Paleosciences and Contemporary History of "Universidade Nova de Lisboa" (New University of Lisbon) as well as at Texas A&M University and University of Western Australia. He began his underwater archaeology career in 1995 in Angra do Heroísmo, where he drew up an initial version of the Underwater Archaeological Chart of the Azores.
 
He has directed archaeological works all over the country, having participated in several international projects in Australia, the Caribbean, Oman, Mozambique and Namibia. He has also become one the greatest advocates of the fight against treasure hunting.
 
The Regional Directorate for Culture informs that this and other events may be consulted in the Cultural Agenda of CulturAçores Portal at the following address: www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt.