The archaeology of shipwrecks is the area of Maritime archaeology that has received the most attention, in fact it was early studies of shipwrecks that provided the foundation of the subject. Shipwrecks by virtue of their preservation at a moment in time and because of the relative inaccessibility of underwater sites and the potential for preservation of organic remains provide a rich archaeological resource from the bronze age to the modern era.

The main article for this category is Archaeology of shipwrecks.