Ongoing Scientific Investigations on the Artifact Assemblage of the Punta Espada Mid-16th Century Merchant Shipwreck, Dominican Republic

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Indiana University (IU) is conducting underwater archaeological investigations on the Punta Espada Shipwreck in the Dominican Republic, a mid-16th century Iberian merchant vessel which was carrying commercial goods for the colonization of the Americas. Artifacts representing this cargo are being conserved and examined at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Ongoing laboratory conservation is uncovering makers’ marks, with research focused on portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF), light microscopy, and photogrammetric modeling. Analysis is also being conducted on organic artifacts such as ivory, faunal bones, and nuts recovered from the shipwreck, including species identification via collagen. Analysis by pXRF is focused on ceramics, glass, and alloys such as brass and pewter. These scientific applications are revealing unseen elements of the shipwreck artifacts, with implications on the origins, quality, and manufacturing techniques of 16th century European products.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow