Major Projects and Project Directors
Bạch Đằng Documentation
and Assessment
Randall Sasaki and Jun Kimura
A National Geographic Society-sponsored survey and assessment continues for a second season at the site of a famous battle outside Hanoi where Mongol invaders sent by Kublai Khan met with defeat in 1288. This year, excavation of a portion of the battlefield, and a coring survey of other areas of the site should pinpoint the location of the ships lost in the battle.
Bajo de la Campaña Phoenician Shipwreck Excavation, Cartagena, Spain
Mark Polzer and Juan Piñedo
The third season of a National Geographic Society-sponsored excavation on a 7th-century BC Phoenician shipwreck will commence again this summer off Cartagena. The initial dives on the site yielded well-preserved elephant tusks with Phoenician inscriptions, amber and ceramics. Project Details
Cape Gelidonya Re-Excavation*
George F. Bass and Nicolle Hirschfeld
A 50th anniversary return to the site of the excavation of a 13th-century BC Bronze Age shipwreck, the first wreck completely excavated by an archaeolgost working underwater, and with the results published. The team will resurvey the site, seeking finds not visible in 1960, or in deeper water, prior to a reassessment and republication of the data with new insights after five decades. Project Details (of original 1960 excavation)
Gold Rush Steamer Survey, Yukon CANADA
John Pollack and Robyn Woodward
Canada’s Yukon and the well-preserved remains of Klondike Gold Rush era steamers will be the focus of a second season of field survey and documentation in this remote wilderness. A well preserved wreck, A.J. Goddard, discovered in Lake Laberge, will be the focus of National Geographic Society-sponsored dives to recover artifacts and documentation. Project Details
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Surveys & Collaborations, Analysis & Publications and Student Projects
Anthony Wayne Shipwreck Survey
Bradley Krueger and Carrie Sowden
In partnership with the Great Lakes Historical Society, this project will investigate the remains of Anthony Wayne, a mid-nineteenth century side-wheel steamer that met a tragic end off the shores of Vermilion, Ohio in 1850. Project Details
Baltic Ghost Wreck Project
Donovan Griffin
A perfectly preserved, nearly intact merchant vessel from the early to mid 17th century lies in 125 meters of water off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic. The 2010 field season will continue the documentation of the wreck and film it for a television documentary. Project Details
Blockade Runner Denbigh Write Up, Texas
J. Barto Arnold
The test excavation and documentation of this Civil War blockade runner’s wreck is done; Barto Arnold continued the process of writing up the results of the work for publication.
Health and Disease on the Dutch High Seas*
Coral Eginton
Working in collaboration with the Western Australia Maritime Museum, this student project will assess surgeon’s instruments and medical chest contents from three Australian wrecks of Dutch East India Company vessels, Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draak (1656), and Zeewijk (1727).
Eastern Cyprus Maritime Survey, Cyprus
Justin Leidwanger
Cyprus’ ancient shores once more are the setting for a survey of shallower water sites, seeking shipwrecks, lost stone anchors, discarded amphoras and other remains from maritime activity in the vicinity of Cape Greco. Continued excavation of an ancient wreck from the 2nd-3rd century AD, discovered on a previous survey will assess this site for future study. Project Details
Erathosthenes Seamount Project*
Shelley Wachsmann
In collaboration with the University of Rhode Island and the Institute for Exploration, an INA/Texas A&M team will participate as archaeological observers on a geological survey of this submerged seamount between Cyprus and Egypt to identify evidence of ancient seafaring that the survey may encounter.
Frigate Ertuğrul Underwater Excavation, Japan
Berta Lledo
The survey and excavation of the site of a tragic 1890 shipwreck of an Ottoman naval frigate on a mission to Japan again involves a joint Turkish-Japanese team. This is the final season of excavation, and now work turns to completing the conservation, analysis, and publication of the finds. Project Details
Godavaya, Sri Lanka
Excavation of an Ancient Ship at*
Deborah Carlson
In collaboration with scholars from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris and the Department of Near Eastern Studies at UC-Berkeley, a small INA team will explore the remains of a recently discovered ancient shipwreck off the coast of Sri Lanka. A preliminary study of artifacts raised from a survey of the site suggests that the wreck may date to the 3rd or 2nd century BC, which if accurate, would make this the oldest wreck yet found in the Indian Ocean. This site may revolutionize our understanding of ancient maritime trade in this part of the world, in particular the commercial exchanges between India, the Near East, and the Mediterranean.
Harbors of the Delta: Ancient Thmuis*
Veronica Morriss
This project, in collaboration with the University of Hawaii and Mansurah University, will seek to locate the buried harbor at Tell Timai, on the Nile Delta, using coring to drill into the sediments.
Harbour Island Archaeological Survey
Heather Hatch
This project will investigate sites on land associated with British maritime and mercantile activity from the late 17th and early 18th centuries at Harbour Island, a British settlement in the Bahamas.
Mapping and Assessment of the Wreck of RMS Titanic
The WHOI, INA, NOAA/ONMS and NPS/SRC participation in this mission is guided by a letter of intent signed by them with RMS Titanic Inc. with a long-term goal of a final archaeological report on the wreck and a commitment to work together for the preservation and scientific study of Titanic. Project Details
Missouri Shipwreck Legislation, USA*
Laura Gongaware
As part of a graduate student review of historic shipwreck legislation in the United States, this project focuses on the salvage of historic steamboat wrecks, the history of the State’s legislation to protect historic wrecks, and its effectiveness.
Nautical and Naval Foodways Assessment *
Ulrica Söderlind
As part of a larger historical and archaeological study, the project’s aim is to work on artifacts from INA excavations in the Bodrum Research Center that specifically address questions of nautical and naval foodways over a large time span and geographical area. A single study on the evolution of shipboard foodways, galleys and cooking is envisioned. The project while focusing on artifacts that can be linked to provisions, foodstuff, cooking, eating, drinking aboard the different ships which have been excavated, will also assess literary and historical accounts.
Puerto Rico Survey*
Filipe Castro
This project will survey a four square mile section of the coast of Puerto Rico to locater and assess a number of potential shipwrecks in the area.
Renaissance Venetian Naval Manuscript Study, Italy
Lilia Campana
An ongoing assessment and study of rare Venetian manuscripts dating from 1500 to 1620 will continue to add to our knowledge of Renaissance shipbuilding in this center of Mediterranean trade and culture. Project Details
St. Helena Submerged Maritime Heritage Project*
Wendy van Duivenvoorde
This project, in collaboration with the Western Australia Maritime Museum, will survey and assess James and St. Rupert’s bays on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena, an important port for Portuguese, Dutch and English mariners from the 16th century AD as well as an important link in later maritime trade and naval activity linking Europe to South Africa, Asia and Australia.
Steamboat Phoenix
George Schwarz
This early American steamboat caught fire and sank in Vermont’s Lake Champlain in October 1819. Rediscovered and the subject of a preliminary documentation project in 1981, Phoenix will now be extensively documented and virtually reconstructed on computer and on paper. Project Details
Vasa Upper Gundeck Recording Project*
David J. Stewart and Frederick Hocker
This project, a collaboration with East Carolina University and the Vasamuseet in Stockholm, continues the detail archaeological documentation of the upper gundeck of the intact 1628 Swedish warship Vasa, the most complete vessel of its era and type yet found and recovered. A group of students will survey and document the gundeck using electronic instruments and hand measurement.
Wadi Gawasis
Documentation and Analysis of Ship Remains at *
Cheryl Ward
This project will assess the conservation needs, develop a conservation plan, and continue the documentation, analysis and publication of ship remains from a later Old Kingdom (c. 2450 BCE) to New Kingdom (c. 1400 BCE) pharaonic port on the coast of the Red Sea. This ancient port, known to the Egyptians as S’ww, was an apparent participant in Egypt’s ancient sea trade with the fabled land of Punt on the African coast, and the ship remains, found sealed in ancient galleries carved into the soft rock of the area, are the most ancient remains of seagoing ships yet known.
Warwick Excavation, Bermuda*
Piotr Bojakowski and Katie Custer Bojakowski
In collaboration with the Bermuda Maritime Museum, this project will excavate the race-built galleon Warwick, which wrecked while at anchorage in Castle Harbour, Bermuda during a hurricane in 1619. Warwick is not only a prime example of late 16th-century naval warships, but also of the early seventeenth century ships that played a fundamental role in supplying the English settlements in North America. Project Details
War of 1812 Shipwrecks Project*
Ben Ford
This survey of portions of Lake Ontario will seek to locate the remains of three American warships from the War of 1812.
Western Ledge Reef Wreck Timber Analysis, Bermuda
Piotr Bojakowski and Katie Custer Bojakowski
The timbers from this early 17th-century wreck, previously excavated in Bermuda, are being documented and reconstructed on paper and computer by two talented Nautical Archaeology Program graduates. Project Details
Yassıada Amphora Study, Turkey
Frederick van Doorninck and Peter Van Alfen
Amphoras recovered from the Yassi Ada excavation will be analyzed in at the Griffis Conservation Laboratory at the Bodrum Center to determine capacity.
Yenikapi Vessel Conservation and Analysis
Bodrum, Turkey
Rebecca Ingram and Michael Jones
Two Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology Program graduate students continue the conservation and analysis of Byzantine shipwreck hulls recovered from the Yenikapi excavations in Istanbul. Four of the hulls were raised after initial documentation, disassembled, and are in conservation are INA's Bodrum Research Center.