Intellectual "Treasure Hunting:" Measuring Effects of Treasure Salvors on Spanish Colonial Shipwreck Sites

Melissa Price

Intellectual "Treasure Hunting:" Measuring Effects of Treasure Salvors on Spanish Colonial Shipwreck Sites

Year: 2016

Summary

This poster presents research on the effects of treasure salvors on Spanish colonial shipwrecks in Florida. Currently, there is no basis for quantifying treasure salvor impacts on Spanish colonial shipwrecks. The Pillar Dollar wreck in Biscayne Bay and three vessels from the 1733 Spanish plate fleet serve as case studies for this research. The poster addresses the following questions:

1. What can the academic investigation of the treasure salvor industry reveal about what is lost or gained through commercial exploitation of Spanish colonial shipwrecks by treasure salvors?

2. What are the effects of treasure salvors on Spanish colonial sites in Florida and how can these effects be quantified?

3. What have we learned about the past from treasure salvor endeavors of Spanish colonial sites in Florida?

4. How can this knowledge assist in the future management of Spanish colonial shipwrecks?

Cite this Record

Intellectual "Treasure Hunting:" Measuring Effects of Treasure Salvors on Spanish Colonial Shipwreck Sites. Melissa Price. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434843)