Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Professors
David Mindell and Aaron Brody
Goals
Examines the intellectual foundations of archaeology in the deep sea. Explores the current convergence of oceanography, archaeology, and engineering which allows scientists to discover, survey, and excavate shipwrecks in deep water with robots and submarines. How best do we employ new devices for archaeological work? How do new capabilities (e.g. higher frequencies, higher resolution, all digital data output) change operations plans and research designs? What new technologies will be required? Area studies will focus on the Aegean in Minoan times and western Sicily during Phoenician, Greek, and Roman hegemony.
Requirements
Several presentations (number to be determined by class enrollment); presentations will entail the assignment of one article ahead of time for class reading, a 3-4 page written argument submitted to the class by e-mail 24 hours in advance of the presentation, 1 page of annotated bibliography, and a 15-20 minute oral presentation to the class.
Text
Delgado, James P., ed. Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1998.
Themes
- Introduction and Survey
- Method and Theory
- Deep Ocean Robotics
- Seafaringand The Ancient Mediterranean
- AUVS
- Trade in the BA: Eastern Mediterranean
- The Minoan World
- Minoan Seafaring
- Geology of Santorini (H. Sigurdsson)
- Trade in the Western Mediterranean: Roman, Phoenician, Greek
- Roman Economy (P. Temin)
- Skerki Bank (A. M. McCann)
- Cultural Resource Management: Ethics, Legislation and Conservation