Lost in the End of the World - Archaeological Evidence of an 18th Century Shipwreck in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Purísima Concepción was a Spanish frigate which set sail from Cadiz to Lima in 1764. When sailing along the Atlantic coast of Tierra del Fuego close to reaching Cape Hoorn she suddenly went aground and the crew was unable to save the vessel. All men on board survived the accident and lived for about three months in harmony with the native peoples, until they completed the construction of a new vessel.

The heroic story of the Purisima Concepción has been known thanks to the accounts of the shipwreck survivors, but there was no reliable archaeological evidence related to it. The project summarized here intended to locate both the shipwreck site and the place where the survivors established their campsite. The hypothesis, methodology and logistics are presented, together with the first preliminary results that provide a strong evidence in favour of a successful accomplishment of the project goals.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere.

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 561