Exploring the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary at Scale

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.

The Great Lakes contain an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks, many of which await exploration. Preserved by cold freshwater, the Great Lakes possess extraordinary potential for archaeological investigation, documentation, and analysis of historic shipwrecks. Over the last two years, the entire sanctuary was mapped with 100% multibeam echosounder (MBES) coverage, revealing multiple nationally significant shipwreck sites and newly discovered geologic features in Lake Michigan, at depths as great as 480 feet. This presentation will focus on the recent work conducted by NOAA and other partners within the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (WSCNMS) to explore and document these shipwreck sites and geologic features, and how this data is being used for both current and future projects. Research findings and analysis will be discussed, as well as how this project has allowed the WSCNMS to break new ground in understanding and managing a large collection of maritime heritage sites.

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