The Indian Ocean, covering about 20% of the earth's water surface, is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions. It has been an arena of migration, trade and cultural interchange since antiquity and its littoral has played an important role in world history. The historical and cultural dynamism of the Indian Ocean is yet to be studied properly. India is centrally located in the Indian Ocean. With more than 7,500 km long coastline, her history and culture has been influenced with activities in the Indian Ocean. The researches aimed to understand the role of the sea, so far, have been limited and her over 5000 years old maritime history is yet to be written, systematically. Realising the need for serious studies for writing definitive maritime history and sincere efforts to search, study and preserve underwater cultural heritage the Archaeological Survey of India and the Indian Navy have come together to organise joint fieldworks and International Seminar on Marine Archaeology (ISMA). Limited copies of the first "Proceedings of the International Seminar on Marine Archaeology" were published in 2004 by the Organising Committee and they were distributed long before. It is nearly three years since demand for the book has been on increase. Meanwhile the Proceedings of the ISMA-2 were brought out where several things were standardized. During the organization of ISMA-3 the Organising Committee decided to bring out the revised version of the proceedings of the ISMA-1. Another decision was made to get it published in collaboration with a publisher to ensure wider distribution and regular supply. Readers would find this revised edition in entirely new look. With the experience of earlier two publications several improvements. have been made. Not only that, a presentation, which was made by Thijs J. Maarleveld during the seminar is an addition. A word-index has also since been prepared. All along it has been my earnest endeavour to make proceedings of ISMA collectable by all researchers working on Indian Ocean. I am happy to place "Maritime Archaeological Perspective of the Indian Ocean" with the trust that it would fulfill the growing demand from scholars and researchers alike with its distribution. Collaboration between the Archaeological Survey of India and the Indian Navy is serving its purpose well and the outcome is fresh archaeological evidence and publication of reference material, the necessary steps towards writing a definitive maritime history of Indian Ocean in general and India in particular.