Underwater Archaeology: Methodologies and Interpretation

DOCUMENT Citation Only Wendy Van Duivenvoorde.

On their way to the East Indies, seamen of Dutch East India Company ships chiselled messages into rocks and boulders and, at the base of these rocks, often left letters, carefully wrapped in layers of canvas and tar and sealed inside lead envelopes. The idea was that the crew of the next Dutch ship to anchor in that same place would pen down the message on the rock and collect the letters. Examples of these so-called ‘postal stones’ have been found on St Helena Island, at the Cape of Good Hope...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ricardo Borrero. Flor Trejo. Roberto Junco.

From the arrival of Cortes in 1519 until the 20th century, Veracruz was one of the most important ports in the Americas. In addition to its role in transatlantic trade, it also played an essential role in maritime relations between Mexico, the Antilles and the northern Gulf of Mexico. In the 80´s, late 90´s and 2010 diving surveys carried out at Bajo Hornos reef by the Underwater Archeology team (SAS) of the Mexican National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH), yielded a variety of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Scott A. Tucker.

Edward Rhodes was a seventeenth-century sailor involved in the English-Chesapeake tobacco trade. Little is known of his life, aside from a single, but extremely detailed document housed in the Bodleian library in Oxford. From 1670-1676, he kept a book describing his journeys back and forth across the Atlantic in four different ships, keeping information on daily positions and weather, but also functional aspects of trade, deaths aboard the ship, and other information as he saw fit. Daily...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stephen A. Hammack.

This paper will discuss research into the maritime history of the three major rivers of the Middle Georgia region. These include the Flint, Ocmulgee, and Oconee Rivers. The aspects addressed will include prehistoric and historic fish weirs and dugout canoes, as well as 18th, 19th, and 20th century poleboats, steamboats, ferries, barges, and other inland watercraft. A summary of fieldwork in the region since 2005 will also be included.

DOCUMENT Citation Only Susana C Vallejos Arenas.

The Charles W. Morgan is the oldest American commercial wooden square rigged vessel and the last surviving wooden whaleship still afloat. This intact historical vessel was launched in 1841 in New Bedford, MA, and is now preserved at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT, USA. Since arriving at Mystic Seaport in 1941, the Morgan has undergone two major rebuildings - from the waterline up initially, as she was placed in a sand bed shortly after her arrival. This third restoration will renew areas of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter Holt.

Divers have been removing objects from the sea since diving was first invented and the advent of SCUBA diving led to an increase in recoveries by private collectors.  Through work on the SHIPS Project in Plymouth, England, sports divers were known to possess items recovered from the sea that had not been recorded,  items that may provide more information about the maritime history of the region.   The aim of the Stray Finds Project is to locate any significant objects in private hands, to record...