Personal Possessions and Their Identity Onboard Sixteenth-Century Shipwrecks

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Over the last thirty years, there has been a wealth of studies on the archaeological and nautical history of sixteenth-century shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay. This poster focuses, however, on the crew and passengers' personal possessions on the ships of the 1559-1561 Tristán de Luna y Arellano expedition. Surviving artifacts assisted this analysis in developing a comprehensive study of material culture in not only a cross-comparison between all three Emanuel Point (1559) shipwrecks, but the contemporaneous Padre Island (1554) and Santa Clara (1564) wrecks as well. Additionally, specific attention was paid to the analysis of artifacts relating to iconography, medical equipment, and navigational tools. Ultimately, conclusions gathered through this poster help contribute to a broader understanding of the personal possessions of an average seaman and his identity among fellow crew members aboard sixteenth-century vessels.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2021 SHA Poster Submissions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology