Space or Lack Thereof; an Artifact and Documentary Analysis of 16th-Century Shipboard Activity Areas and their Evolution

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The 16th century was a time of long-distance voyaging and feats of maritime discovery that served to colonize lands across the Atlantic. Although much is known about this time period, there are gaps in our understanding of life at sea and the spatial organization of activities onboard. By using historical documents, this paper seeks to understand where activity areas like the galley and high-status officers’ quarters were located on vessels. An analysis of ship manifests and other documents over time in the 16th century and later can also reveal if this spatial organization evolved synchronously with ship construction. This analysis can allow archaeologists to associate certain objects and items with activity areas onboard, which can be used to better understand, analyze, and interpret the archaeological assemblage and distribution of 16th century vessels, such as those of the Tristán de Luna’s 1559 colonial fleet in Pensacola Bay, currently under investigation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow