Eller House and West Research Campus
Instructor: Dr. Lynn B. Harris
Office: Eller House 201
Office phone: 252-328-1967
Email: harrisly@ecu.edu
Office Hours: 10:00-2:00, other times by appointment
Graduate Assistant: Lindsay Wentzel, wentzell20@students.ecu.edu
Course Description
This class will explore theories and concepts of maritime material culture and the various approaches used by archaeologists to connect material culture with the human experience aboard boats, ships, and ashore in maritime communities. We will survey archaeological literature relating to a variety of material culture case studies. Students will have ample hands-on opportunities to catalog, identify, analyze, and research collections of maritime artifacts. These collections range from typical maritime artifacts such as cannon, anchors, and shipwreck cargo collections to larger maritime artifacts like watercraft or structures like lighthouses. There will also be a focus on management issues and challenges such as storage, curation, and exhibit options both digitally and within museum settings. The class will be a seminar format with discussions, related readings, and laboratory and fieldwork, in addition to student and instructor presentations on a variety of topics related to the course content. There may be optional fieldtrips on weekends to study maritime landscapes and associated material culture in North Carolina.
Lindsay Wentzel Lindsay Wentzel is a graduate assistant in the Maritime Studies program at ECU. Originally from Yorktown, Virginia, she graduated from Virginia Tech in 2018 with dual B.S. degrees in Wildlife Conservation and Marine Fisheries Conservation. After a pivotal internship experience combining sea snail biology and marine history through the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, she set her sights on pursuing maritime history and archaeology as a career. As a newcomer, she is excited to apply her unique background and extensive research experience to the field. Currently, her broader interests include historic fisheries and other marine resource extractions, nautical archaeology of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the development of maritime industrial landscapes. An avid diver and waterman, Lindsay is looking forward to spending the next few years near the Carolina coast with her dog, Goose.