Nautical Archaeology Program

The Nautical Archaeology Program (NAP) is a degree-granting program within the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

The Nautical Archaeology Program offers admission to students seeking graduate degrees in nautical archaeology. The primary focus is on training archaeologists to become divers, rather than teaching divers the principles of anthropology and archaeology. Students are also required to learn the principles of archaeological conservation, with primary emphasis on the treatment of waterlogged artifacts.

Academic Program

The program has seven full-time faculty members and many research associates who conduct surveys, excavations, conservation and reconstruction of ancient, medieval, and early modern shipwrecks. Each professor holds an endowed fellowship. All NAP students are required to take several core courses: History of Wooden Shipbuilding, Research and Reconstruction of Ships, Conservation of Cultural Resources, and Archaeological Methods and Theory.^[1] The average time to complete a master’s degree is three to five years; for a Ph.D. the average is five to seven years.^[2] The program admits between eight and ten students each year. Graduating students are awarded their M.A. or Ph.D. in Anthropology.

History of the Program

The Nautical Archaeology Program began after the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) became affiliated with Texas A&M University in 1976. As part of the affiliation, Texas A&M established the Nautical Archaeology Program as a separate entity. Since the first excavations INA carried out were in the Mediterranean, the main focus was initially on Old World nautical archaeology; after affiliating with the University, a New World archaeologist joined the staff, and work began in North America and Africa.^[3] The establishment of a department dedicated to the discipline allowed nautical archaeology to develop into an important subfield of archaeology.

Laboratories

• The Conservation Research Laboratory (CRL) is directed by Dr. Donny Hamilton
• The Archeological Preservation Research Laboratory (APRL) is directed by Dr. C. Wayne Smith
• The J. Richard Steffy Ship Reconstruction Laboratory is directed by Dr. Filipe Vieira de Castro
• The New World Laboratory is directed by Dr. Kevin Crisman
• The Old World Laboratory is directed by Dr. Cemal Pulak
• The Ship Model Laboratory is directed by Glenn Grieco
• The Wilder Imaging Laboratory is directed by Dr. C. Wayne Smith

Creation of Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation

In 2005, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents established the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation (CMAC), a research center intended to be the main mechanism of cooperation between the Nautical Archaeology Program and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. All of the laboratories once part of the Nautical Archaeology Program are now administered by CMAC. CMAC is meant to be the Nautical counterpart of the Center for the Study of the First Americans (CSFA), a highly regarded research institute affiliated with Texas A&M which works closely with the terrestrial archaeologists in the Anthropology department.^[4]

Nautical Archaeology Program Faculty

The staff of seven full-time professors of Nautical Archaeology makes the NAP the largest academic program in nautical archaeology in the world.^[5] NAP professors direct most of INA's projects, since the security offered by their permanent positions allows a long-term commitment to excavation and publishing.^[6] Each professor holds an endowed fellowship, professorship, or chair^[7]

Since the creation of the program, there have been only 11 faculty members: Dr. George Bass, Dr. Frederick van Doornick, Jr., Dr. Fred Hocker, J. Richard Steffy, Dr. Deborah Carlson, Dr. Filipe Vieira de Castro, Dr. Kevin Crisman, Dr. Donny Hamilton, Dr. Cemal Pulak, Dr. C. Wayne Smith, and Dr. Shelley Wachsmann.^[8]

Dr. Bass and Dr. van Doornick are now professors emeriti and Dr. Hocker left the program in 1999 after eight years of teaching in order to take a position with the Center for Maritime Archaeology, part of the National Museum of Denmark in Roskilde. J. Richard Steffy died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder on November 29, 2007.^[9]

Notes

1. ^ NAP Class Information
2. ^ Hamilton, Donny L. 2005. The Institute of Nautical Archaeology & The Nautical Archaeology Program: A History of Both Institutions, Their Interaction, and Their Role in Student Education. The INA Quarterly, 32(2) 14-21.
3. ^ Bass, George F. "Introduction: Reclaiming Lost History from Beneath the Seven Seas" In Beneath the Seven Seas: Adventures with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, ed. George F. Bass, 10-27. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.
4. ^ Hamilton, D. 2005, 20.
5. ^ Hamilton, D. 2005, 20.
6. ^ Hamilton, D. 2005, 15.
7. ^ Hamilton, D. 2005, 20.
8. ^ Hamilton, D. 2005, 20.
9. ^ NY Times Obituary, December 4, 2007

External links

• Nautical Archaeology Program
• Institute of Nautical Archaeology website
• Research Diving