Lophelia II Project Shipwreck Component: Final Assessment and Project Analysis

Summary

In 2008 the Minerals Management Service, now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, sanctioned a deepwater study in the Gulf of Mexico. Officially designated the ‘Deepwater Program: Exploration and Research of Northern Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Natural and Artificial Hard Bottom Habitats with Emphasis on Coral Communities: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks’, the project was more commonly referred to as the Lophelia II Project. The ‘Wrecks’ component of the project called for the archaeological examination of several shipwrecks as a continuation of the 2004 Deepwrecks Study in the Gulf of Mexico. Between 2008 and 2010 three field seasons incorporated shipwreck investigation cruises that culminated in an Archaeological Assessment Report submitted as part of the larger Lophelia II report in 2013. This presentation will provide a final analysis of the Lophelia II shipwreck sites based on data acquired between 2008 and 2010. In addition to the shipwreck findings, it will also present an analysis of the project itself and provide recommendations for future deepwater shipwreck studies of this type.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Deepwater Archaeology: Advancements, Opportunities, and Limitations

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-69,05