ECU’s Program in Maritime Studies
From very humble beginnings, the Maritime Studies Program at East Carolina University has blossomed into one of the world’s leading academic underwater archaeology programs. It is characterized by hands-on underwater training, primary document historical research, and other practical skills such as remote sensing and grant writing. Yet we don’t just rely on the classroom, the Program in Maritime Studies takes pride in the fact that we take theory into the real world to practice it in the field. In the Program exciting careers are not an accident they are the result of planning, introspection, training, and last but not least, field experience.
Program staff includes Professors with both National and International reputation in research excellence. Our professors have written over 30 academic press books concerning their various research interests plus innumerable articles and site reports concentrating primarily on North American underwater archaeology projects ranging geographically from Bermuda to the Middle of the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea to Lake Superior.
Field School Participants:
Dr. Lynn Harris – Principal Investigator
Lynn Harris (PhD University of South Carolina) has a background in nautical archaeology, terrestrial archaeology, submerged cultural resource management and maritime history. Areas of fieldwork experience and research interest include the American South, Africa, and the Caribbean. Her particular interest is the African diaspora and labor history. She teaches courses in underwater archaeology methods, maritime material culture, watercraft recording, and European maritime history with an inter-disciplinary Atlantic World perspective. Teaching assignments have included offering summer abroad study programs in Africa. Harris has also directed and co-directed underwater archaeology field schools for graduate students in a variety of locations. She has published on vernacular watercraft, colonial period shipwrecks, public outreach, maritime heritage tourism, and international collaboration in underwater archaeology initiatives. Harris currently serves as faculty in the Program in Maritime Studies, Atlantic World Program, Coastal Resources Management Program, and on the board of the international professional organization Advisory Council for Underwater Archaeology.
Dr. Nathan Richards – Co-Investigator
Dr. Richards specializes in nautical archaeology, archaeological theory and is a specialist in watercraft discard and cultural site formation processes of the archaeological record. He has an interest in non-traditional subjects in maritime archaeology focusing on non-shipwreck sites such as ship graveyards, the archaeology of harbor infrastructure, and maritime terrestrial sites. He has been involved in a number of field schools run by Departments of Archaeology at Flinders University (South Australia), and James Cook University (Queensland), and has been employed in cultural resource management work by the State Governments of South Australia and Tasmania. Currently he is working in three main themes within the theme of cultural site formation; shipboard incarceration, ferrous shipbuilding traditions (iron, steel and steam shipbuilding), and ship abandonment (an extension of the Australian Abandoned Ships Project to the USA).Dr. Richards teaches classes in the history and theory of nautical archaeology, research and field methods, cultural resource management, and field schools.
Jason Nunn – Dive Safety Officer
Jason is the Dive Safety Officer for East Carolina University. He trains students as AAUS certified divers, develops their skills in advanced SCUBA classes, and keeps students safe during all fieldwork.His passion for diving is obvious in his commitment to facilitating the formation of more confident student divers.
Jeremy Borrelli – Crew Chief
“The most exciting aspect of this project is that we are given the opportunity to directly interact with the local maritime community while also exploring the past cultural remains both under the water and throughout the town.”
Hannah Piner – Crew Chief
“I am interested in material culture and how to best relate maritime archaeology to the public. This project gives me the opportunity to mentor students, try different ways to relate our project to the public (in Costa Rica and via the web), and practice interpreting more cool sites!”
Melissa Price – Crew Chief
“I am most interested in communicating with villagers to learn more about the history of the area and how it connects to the maritime cultural landscape. I am also excited to explore marine biology as we inventory marine life on the sites.”
Elise Carroll – Student
“One of the things I am most excited about is applying everything we learned in Methodology and Scientific Diving classes in Costa Rica in a real archaeological situation!”
Lauren Christian – Student
“My background focused on the contribution and significance the trade had to the development of the major European empires, particularly as part of the British triangle trade. I’m interested in the learning more about the trade.”
Katherine “Katie” Clevenger – Student
“I have never been to Latin America or dove in the Caribbean, so I am excited to experience that for the first time.”
Kelsey Dwyer – Student
“[I am] studying a femenist perspective of slavery: examining the role of the female slave in archaeological and maritime landscapes of the Caribbean.”
Mitch Freitas – Student
“I am most excited about having the fortune to dive in an area that essentially no one else is allowed to.”
Wale Oyediran – Student
“My research interest is on slave ships and the sea routes through which slaves were transported out of Africa to other parts of the world but with much emphasis on the Americas. I am very excited that this project will be investigating shipwreck sites that may be related to the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.”
Elizabeth “Bettie” Pratt – Student
“I’m most interested in the anchor recording which we will be doing as it relates to my thesis.”
Allyson Ropp – Student
Allyson’s research interests are “exploring the local perception of the shipwrecks being portrayed as pirate ships and why it exists”.
Bryan “Scott” Rose – Student
“I am very interested in Caribbean culture and colonization efforts. I am super excited to be visiting a possible early colonial wreck site. This will be my first venture outside of the US as well. I am also interested in any cannon pile that we might record.”
Emily Schwalbe – Student
“I am most excited about the interdisciplinary nature of the project, and the wide variety of tasks and experiences we will be exposed to in the field.”
Sydney Swierenga – Student
“I’m most excited to experience a different culture as well as finally being able to apply skills we’ve learned in the classroom in a real world situation.”
Devin Urban – Student
“I have an interest in fugitive slave communities near Cahuita.”