38 Years Later: An Evaluation of the Dissemination of Public Knowledge Concerning the 1622 Nuestra Señora de Atocha Shipwreck Site in the Florida Keys.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Named the most valuable shipwreck to be recovered, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha was part of the Spanish Tierra Firme fleet bound for Spain in 1622 until a severe hurricane sank the vessel off the Florida Keys. In 1985, treasure hunter Mel Fisher and a crew of salvage divers uncovered the main hull of the Atocha along with a vast number of valuables. The struggles between underwater archaeology and the salvage industry lie in the differing priorities, preservation techniques, knowledge production, and overall approaches to shipwreck exploration and recovery. This study explores how much information recovered from the Atocha made it into the public domain via publishing, media coverage, etc., in comparison to dissemination standards set by professional underwater archaeologists in the academic and private sectors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39946.0