Two Models for Volunteer-Driven Underwater Archaeology in Lake Erie

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Submerged Cultural Resources and the Maritime Heritage of the Great Lakes" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Ohio-based Maritime Archaeological Survey Team (MAST) and the Pennsylvania Archaeology Shipwreck Survey Team (PASST) both rely heavily on amateur, volunteer archaeologists to record and disseminate information about Lake Erie shipwrecks. Both are steered by a single professional maritime archaeologist supported by a range of state and non-profit agencies. The two organizations, however, differ in terms of their structure and methods. MAST focuses on large trainings with a limited number of large group dives per season to record a single shipwreck. PASST involves fewer divers and records multiple wrecks simultaneously over several seasons through numerous small group investigations. The organizations also differ in terms of funding, outputs, and levels of volunteer leadership. This paper will describe the MAST and PASST models, evaluate these models, and discuss how their differences lead to varying outcomes for the recording and dissemination of information about Lake Erie submerged cultural heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Submerged Cultural Resources and the Maritime Heritage of the Great Lakes

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 296