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2008 Northeast Florida Symposium on Maritime Archaeology
March 12-15, 2008
List of Presentations
In Alphabetical Order, by Speaker’s Last Name
David Ball, Minerals Management Service
The Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project: Excavation of an
early 19th Century Shipwreck in 4,000 feet of Water
Friday, March 14, 9:45-10:30
In 2004 archaeologists from the Minerals Management Service were notified
of the presence of an historic shipwreck in 4,000 feet of water, located
about 40 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Subsequent
investigations and a three-week long data recovery effort in the spring
of 2007 have confirmed the remains of an early 19th century vessel,
dubbed the Mardi Gras shipwreck. Though a positive identity of this
vessel has not yet been made, the site has yielded an abundance of
artifacts. This presentation will highlight the recent excavation,
artifact assemblage, and public outreach efforts.
Dr. John R. Bratten and
Gregory D. Cook,
University of West Florida
The Emanuel Point Ship II: Investigation of a Newly Discovered
16th-century Spanish vessel in Pensacola, Florida
Friday, March 14, 1:30-2:15
Recent remote sensing and testing of underwater anomalies in
Pensacola Bay, Florida has revealed the presence of an early
Spanish shipwreck located near the first Emanuel Point Ship.
Archaeological investigation has confirmed that this vessel also is
associated with the doomed 1559 colonization attempt by Don
Tristán de Luna y Arellano. Ongoing research enhances our
understanding of Luna's colonization effort and 16th-century
shipbuilding practices.
Brendan Burke,
Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program
Scratching at History the Digital Way:
Ongoing Research at the Tolomato Bar Anchorage
Thurday, March 13, 2:15-3:00
Since the 2003 field season LAMP has been investigating the
Tolomato Bar Anchorage Site 8SJ4801. Residing within the
Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, the
site has been occupied by Timucuan Indians, Spanish missionaries, a
British plantation, and finally by Minorcan planters. Ongoing
research at this site has documented the presence of a rich
maritime landscape complete with wharf structures, vessel remains,
structural foundations, and landscape features such as drainage
ditches, retention ponds and potential indigo processing sites.
LAMP has recently started the process of creating a GIS database to
organize the complex history contained in the site. The goals of
this database are to document each phase of this multi-component
site in order to investigate the transition period between Governor
Grant’s plantation occupation and subsequent Minorcan
settlement. Macro-level analysis of colonization efforts and
subsequent political economic departures into modern capitalism in
the St. Augustine area will be combined with the micro-level site
analysis of ethnicity, class, and consumerism at 8SJ4801.
Ultimately, this endeavor hopes to contribute to understandings of
local cultural economies and their responses-to and
modifications-of broad global systems on the community level.
Gregory D. Cook (see Dr. John Bratten and Gregory D. Cook)
Pearce Paul Creasman, Texas A&M University Nautical Archaeology
Program
Iberian Ships in the Age of Expansion: What Can Ship Timber Tell
Us?
This study is rooted in one general question: What can the wood
from ships reveal about the people who built them? Shipwrecks are
the last chapter in complex story. While the last 40 years of
maritime archaeology have rewritten a number of these chapters,
much of the information unrelated to a ship’s final voyage
remains a mystery. Any study of the vessels that shaped the world
in which we live is incomplete without an understanding of the
resources required to construct them. A complete understanding of
the changes in shipbuilding over time should include an
investigation and discussion of the basic building material, its
properties, and how it was or was not acquired and maintained as a
sustainable resource. Several unrelated articles have briefly
addressed methods of identifying cultural information often
overlooked from ship timbers. This presentation will explore a
series of analytical questions and quantitative tests that can be
conducted on ship timbers with an understanding of what can, or
cannot, be gained from such analysis. Iberian ships from the Age of
Expansion will be the primary example.
Dr. John De Bry, Center for Historical Archaeology
The History of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet
Wednesday, March 12, 10:30-11:15
In the early hours of July 31, 1715, a fleet of 12 ships bound
for Spain from Havana was caught in a hurricane and were sunk along
the east coast of Florida; only one ship survived the huge storm.
On that day Spain suffered the largest single loss in its entire
colonial history. In this presentation we examine the historical
background of the Spanish Fleet system, and the modern-day salvage
by treasure hunters. The conflict between treasure hunters and the
archaeological community is well-known; the majority of
archaeologists agree that profit-motivated treasure salvage
operations lead to non-scientific methodologies, the destruction of
archaeological contexts, and the irreplaceable loss of valuable
data. At least five of the shipwrecks remain to be discovered; who
will find and excavate the next 1715 shipwreck, treasure hunters or
archaeologists, and what is best for the people of Florida? Such
cultural resources are unique and not renewable; they deserve to be
protected.
Amanda Evans, Tesla Offshore Inc. “A needle in a
haystack?” Investigating the Gulf of Mexico’s
Submerged Cultural Landscapes.
Friday, March 14, 10:30-11:15
During the last glaciation between 25,000 and 3,000 years ago,
large portions of the world’s continental shelves were
exposed as dry-land; prime areas for habitation by prehistoric
humans. During the last glacial maximum in the Gulf of Mexico, the
Outer Continental Shelf was exposed out to approximately the
shelf-slope break. Known prehistoric sites in coastal and offshore
environments suggest that human habitation extended beyond the
modern shoreline onto the continental shelf during lower sea-level
stands. This paper will begin with a review of previous
investigations of Gulf coast prehistoric sites offshore,
highlighting differences between known sites in the eastern Gulf
(offshore Florida), and hypothetical sites in the central and
western Gulf (offshore Texas and Louisiana). The paper will then
introduce current research on a group of proposed prehistoric sites
in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, including the processes
of interpreting prehistoric site features in fluvial-dominated
environments from remote sensing data, and the methodologies that
will be utilized during field work scheduled for summer 2008.
Frederick Hanselmann, Indiana University
Captain Kidd’s Quedagh Merchant: The Possible Wreck
and Its Potential as a Marine Protected Area
Thursday, March 13, 3:45-4:30
Encore presentation at Lighthouse Festival, Saturday 2:00-2:45
In eight feet of water on the eastern shore of Catalina Island
off of the Dominican Republic lie the remains of what could be
Captain Kidd’s ship, the Quedagh Merchant. Hounded by
accusations of piracy, in 1699 Kidd left the Quedagh Merchant
moored on Catalina Island and rushed to New England to clear his
name. After the subsequent trial, many searched for the vessel, but
none were successful. If proven to be the Quedagh Merchant, the
site can shed light on what possibly took place following
Kidd’s departure, as well as play a significant role in
cultural heritage tourism along the southeastern coast of the
Dominican Republic. Incorporation of the site into a system of
Marine Protected Areas is the most effective way to ensure its
preservation for this and future generations.
Dr. Christopher E. Horrell, Minerals Management Service
The Sailing Ship Formally Known as Western Empire
Friday, March 14, 9:00-9:45
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is the Federal Agency
under the U.S. Department of the Interior that regulates mineral
resources on the on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Part of the
permitting process required remote-sensing surveys and
archaeological analysis to identify potential cultural resources.
Over the last three years, as exploration and development have
moved further offshore into deepwater regions of the Gulf of
Mexico, several significant historic shipwrecks have been
identified. Recently, MMS archaeologists along with students and
colleagues from Texas A&M University thought that they had
correctly identified a shipwreck lying in approximately 1,200 feet
of water as the sailing ship Western Empire. Western Empire, which
was built in 1862 in Quebec, was thought to have slipped beneath
the waves on September 18, 1876 and come to rest in the soft mud of
the Gulf of Mexico. This identification was confirmed by a recently
acquired GIS database and model which also suggested the site was
indeed Western Empire. Further research has suggested something
quite different. This paper will discuss this site along with the
archival research conducted thus far.
Dr. Kira Kaufmann, Florida Public Archaeology Network,
Southeast Region and Florida Atlantic University
Underwater Public Archaeology and the Copenhagen Wreck
Friday, March 14, 11:15-12:00
The task of engaging the public to develop sensitivity towards
cultural resources that are submerged in both shallow and deep
circumstances, and sometimes unrecognizable, is a very challenging
endeavor. What evolved from initial contacts, informal interview,
and background research has become a fledgling program in
Underwater Public Archaeology focused on creating awareness and
steward ship about cultural resources in all kinds of freshwater
and ocean environments. This paper details the rewards and
challenges of working with the public on one specific project,
monitoring of the Copenhagen wreck. Working with the public on
Underwater Archaeological projects such as the Copenhagen is
important in an effort to stem the global loss of such sites
because of misinformation and apathy.
Ms. Elizabeth Friedmann, GTM-NERR volunteer
Stephen Crane’s Shipwreck: Diving for Literary Treasure
Wednesday, March 12, 3:00-3:45
Stephen Crane was 25 years old and already famous as the author
of The Red Badge of Courage when he arrived in Jacksonville in
November 1896. There he joined other newspaper correspondents
seeking passage to Cuba aboard the filibustering steamers supplying
arms and ammunition to the Cuban rebels fighting for independence
from Spain. Though famous as a war novelist, he had never seen
battle, and he was determined to get to Cuba to satisfy himself
that war was as he had imagined it. But his ship, the Commodore,
sank off the coast of Florida en route, and Crane and three other
men spent thirty harrowing hours at sea in a ten-foot dinghy before
being washed ashore at Daytona Beach. Stephen Crane later
transformed this experience into “The Open Boat,” one
of his best stories and a classic of American literature. In 1986 a
group of amateur divers organized a successful expedition to find
the remains of the Commodore. A display of artifacts recovered from
the wreck site is now on permanent exhibition at the Ponce de Leon
Inlet Lighthouse.
Kendra Kennedy, University of West Florida
The Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Pensacola Waterfront
Thursday, March 13, 1:30-2:15
As is the case with most coastal settlements, water
transportation of people and cargo played a major role in forming
the history of the city of Pensacola in northwest Florida from
colonial days to the early American industrial period. The remnants
of past coastal activities include the ubiquitous shipwreck, but
also wharves, warehouse foundations, trading posts ruins, ballast
piles, refuse dumps, and many other maritime cultural resources.
This presentation explores the ways in which a research strategy
that examines both terrestrial and underwater archaeological
resources around Pensacola’s main waterfront provides a
richer understanding of the area’s dynamic maritime and
economic history.
Christine Maverick, University of West Florida
Conservation of Waterlogged Wooden Artifacts Recovered from Little
Salt Spring
Wednesday, March 12, 1:30-2:15
Over the past year, experiments have been conducted to test the
effectiveness of several conservation techniques on waterlogged
wood recovered from the inundated spring site, Little Salt Spring.
This paper will briefly discuss the results of those experiments
and further address the status of the continuing experimentation
and research into ideal methods of conservation for wooden
artifacts of this age and level of deterioration and their
application to wood recovered from this prehistoric site in
Sarasota County.
Chuck Meide, Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program
From the First Surveys to the First Coast Maritime Archaeology
Project:
Thirty Years of Maritime Archaeology in America’s Oldest
Port.
Wednesday, March 12, 3:45-4:30
Encore Presentation, Lighthouse Festival, Saturday March 15, 1:00
pm – 2:00 pm
The first archaeological surveys in St. Augustine waters were
directed by FSU professor George R. Fischer in 1978 and 1979. These
consisted of student diver swimming searches off the Castillo de
San Marcos in downtown St. Augustine and further south at Fort
Matanzas. Over the next thirty years, archaeological research
taking place in St. Augustine grew more sophisticated,
comprehensive, and technologically advanced. Research activities
and public interest increased dramatically in the second half of
the 1990s, after Southern Oceans Archaeological Research conducted
the St. Augustine Shipwreck Survey, discovering a number of
shipwrecks including the oldest found to date, the British Industry
lost in 1764. The St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum immediately
saw the potential for this kind of research, providing financial
support for surveys and formalizing the Lighthouse Archaeological
Maritime Program or LAMP in 1999. LAMP continued to expand its
research throughout St. Johns County and the surrounding region,
and in 2006 secured state Special Category funding to launch a
major new research and outreach program known as the First Coast
Maritime Archaeology Project. This paper presents an overview of
three decades of maritime archaeology in the Oldest Port,
culminating with a summary of the recent accomplishments of the
First Coast Maritime Archaeology Project.
David Moore, North Carolina Maritime Museum
A Decade of Pirate Perspective: An Assessment of Ten Years of
Historical and Archaeological Research Relating to the Remains of
Blackbeard’s Flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge
Keynote Address, Wednesday, March 12, 8:00-9:15 pm
Flagler Room, Flagler College
Encore presentation, Lighthouse Festival, Saturday, March 15,
3:00-4:00 pm
In November 1996, the remains of an early eighteenth century
shipwreck (NC Site 31-CR-314) were located immediately off Beaufort
Inlet, North Carolina. Initial interpretation and analysis
suggested that the site represented the pirate Blackbeard’s
long lost flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge (ex-French slaver
Concorde) that was abandoned after running aground in June 1718.
This lecture will address the historical documentation that led to
the discovery of the shipwreck and helped to define an operational
profile of the notorious pirate captain, his ships, associates, and
adversaries. Following this historical introduction, an overview of
the archaeological efforts undertaken over the past decade will be
presented and assessed along with a glimpse of some of the more
significant artifacts and research findings.
David Moore, North Carolina Maritime Museum
The Spring of Whitby and HMS Lucifer : Archaeological and
Historical Investigations of a 19th Century Dual-Identity Shipwreck
(8-IR-28) off Wabasso Beach, Florida
Thursday, March 13, 3:00-3:45
In 1964, an early 19th century English shipwreck was located off
Wabasso Beach during the initial stages of Florida’s treasure
boom. The recovered ship’s bell identified the site as the
remains of the English merchant vessel Spring of Whitby. Although
worked sporadically by salvors for over forty years, the site was
investigated by archaeologists in 1984 as an integral part of the
Florida East Coast Shipwreck Project. Various elements of hull
structure, rigging, armament, ground tackle, and ship’s
fasteners and miscellaneous fittings were mapped and recorded.
Since then, historical research undertaken in an attempt to
determine details of the vessel’s operational profile has
produced some surprising results. The ship spent almost a decade in
the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War as the bomb (mortar) ship
HMS Lucifer before reentering the mercantile service under her
original name. This presentation will outline both the
archaeological and historical findings of this investigation.
Dr. Roger Smith, Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research
An Overview of Underwater Archaeology in Florida
Wednesday, March 12, 9:45-10:30
Florida has always been an ideal place for exploration and
exploitation. It's also been a place for experimentation. From
Paleo hunters and fishermen, to Spanish seaborne conquistadors,
through the Ages of Sail and Steam, to the exploration of Space,
Florida has a unique legacy--one that is reflected by the submerged
remains of all of these activities. This presentation will review
the evolution of underwater archaeology in Florida and how it has
helped us to better understand our past.
Dr. David Switzer, Plymouth State University
The Privateer Defence: A Revolutionary War Time Capsule in the Best
Sense of the Term
Wednesday, March 12, 11:15-12:00
In August 1779 Maine’s Penobscot Bay was the scene of a
naval disaster of Pearl Harbor proportions when a British naval
squadron defeated an American fleet consisting of naval vessels and
many privateers. Two of the privateers were captured; the remaining
vessels of the fleet were scuttled to prevent capture including two
Continental Naval vessels. In 1973 the remains of one of the
scuttled privateers was discovered. The hull was nearly completely
buried in the seabed of Stockton Harbor. Historical research
identified the privateer as the brig Defence built in Beverly,
Massachusetts in 1778 or early 1779. In 1975 a six year nautical
archaeological campaign was initiated by the American Institute of
Nautical Archaeology (AINA) now the Institute of Nautical
Archaeology (INA). This paper will focus the methodology of the
excavation efforts and the results: the retrieval and conservation
of varied material culture related to life and work at sea and
knowledge of 18th century shipbuilding drawn from the documented
hull remains.
Dr. Sam Turner, Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program
LAMP Boatworks; From Dreams to Reality
Friday, March 14, 3:00-3:45
The propped up wooden hulls of two hauled sailing craft on
Riberia Street in St. Augustine were the inspiration for a long
term LAMP wooden boatbuilding program whose purpose was to save not
only wooden boatbuilding skills but if possible, endangered wooden
craft as well. To date, the LAMP Boatworks has completed two craft
and has built a dedicated corps of volunteers who have acquired
many of the skills necessary for progressively complicated and
traditional boatbuilding. The LAMP Boatworks has also engaged in an
international collaborative partnership with Astilleros Nereo, a
Spanish shipyard in Málga to assist with the production of a
replica eighteenth century brig called the Galveztown.
Wendy Welsh, North Carolina Office of State Archaeology
The Voyage From Sea Floor to Museum Door: An Overview of the
Artifact Assemblage and Conservation Efforts on the Queen
Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project
Wednesday, March 12, 2:15-3:00
The State of North Carolina is assembling a unique collection of
artifacts that reflect many aspects of early eighteenth-century
maritime culture. Artifacts excavated from the shipwreck believed
to be Queen Anne's Revenge, the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship
that ran aground in 1718 in Beaufort Inlet, provide valuable
insight into colonial technology, ship’s architecture and
shipboard life. Artifacts are recovered in an array of conditions,
however the majority are embedded within hard concretions made up
of corrosion products, calcium carbonate and sand. Many different
types of artifacts may be encased in one single concretion and once
separated each artifact type is desalinated appropriately. This
presentation will give an overview of the artifact assemblage and
briefly outline the various processes utilized to assess, document
and excavate the different types of artifacts from concretion,
which makes them tangible for research and public display.
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