Dr. Della A Scott-Ireton

In 2018, East Carolina University’s (ECU) Program in Maritime Studies, in partnership with the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) and veterans’ nonprofit Task Force Dagger Special Forces Foundation (TFDF), developed and undertook an underwater archaeology veterans program on WWII-related submerged sites in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). This program was called the Joint Recovery Team (JRT) and consisted of retired and medically retired Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans from across the United States armed forces (i.e., Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force). The project included training 14 veterans in archaeological techniques and an intensive 2-week investigative field project, during which veterans assisted with archaeological target testing, site identification, and recording. A National Park Service (NPS) Maritime Heritage Program grant supported the training and the Department of Defense, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA) financially supported the field project. Project leadership undertook training assessments including a program survey, field observations, unstructured interviews, and reflection journals. This article outlines the development of the public archaeology program, training, fieldwork, and assessments and provides a critical reflection of successes and areas for improvement.

The Deadman’s Island (8SR782) and Town Point (8SR983) shipwrecks are unidentified vessel remains that were archaeologically investigated and interpreted as small stripped and abandoned vessels from the British Occupational Period of Pensacola (1763–1781). The wrecks are located in an 18th-century British Royal Navy careenage called Old Navy Cove at the landform known as Deadman’s Island near Gulf Breeze, Florida. Contemporary documents, both reanalysed and rediscovered, may prove the Deadman’s Island Wreck to be HMS Florida, the last survey schooner of Royal Surveyor and Cartographer George Gauld, and the Town Point Wreck Florida’s attendant shallop.

The Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030 is a UN initiative that promotes a common framework for supporting stakeholders in studying and assessing the health of the world’s oceans. The initiative also presents a vital opportunity to improve the integration of archaeology within the marine sciences. With the First Global Planning Meeting of the Decade held in Copenhagen at the National Museum of Denmark in May 2019, steps are already being taken to make the best of this opportunity, and the resulting creation of an Ocean Decade Heritage Network is proposed as a way forward to continue to raise awareness in the cultural heritage community about the Decade and to facilitate information sharing regarding this endeavour.

In late 2006, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) was asked by the Minerals Management Service to direct the public outreach and education component of the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project. Traditional public outreach efforts for archaeological sites in shallow water typically focus on getting diving and snorkeling visitors to the site. Interpretive materials for such sites often include waterproof site plans, submerged markers, and guidelines to direct visitors around the site as they explore and learn. Deepwater archaeological sites present unique challenges, namely, the interpretation of resources managed for the public that the public will never physically visit. This article discusses FPAN’s role in the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project and the public education strategies developed to present the shipwreck and the extreme deepwater project to the public.

Created by the Florida Legislature in 2004, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) has grown into a positive force for preservation, public engagement, and community collaboration in archaeology. This article discusses the genesis of FPAN and how the organization has changed in scope, evolved in mission, and addressed challenges, ideally providing ideas and direction for similar programmes in other locations.

Underwater cultural heritage sites draw thousands of diving tourists lured by the excitement of shipwrecks and the beauty of the marine environment. Through scientific research and interpretation, archaeologists have the opportunity to educate these visitors about the history of the sites and, perhaps more importantly, about the need for preservation. Effective interpretation leads to appreciation of underwater cultural heritage sites as links to our past, rather than simply as mines of ‘treasure’ to be salvaged for personal gain or sites of interest to be consumed by tourists. This paper describes a selection of interpreted maritime sites from the continental US (with specific reference to Florida), the Caribbean, and the Pacific to show how archaeological tourism, specifically shipwreck preserves and heritage trails, can begin to
change mindsets, engage emotions, and inform visitors. It also discusses ways in which we can improve upon assessment, monitoring, and long-term preservation strategies after the trails are created and the sand has settled.

In the fall of 2001, staff of the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research were led by river divers to an underwater site in the Apalachicola River containing a large concentration of prehistoric and historic artifacts lying on the riverbed. Subsequent inspection of the submerged river bank and scoured limestone river channel revealed a myriad of objects, which included iron fasteners, metal tools and implements, broken glass bottles, stone projectile points, scattered bricks and stone blocks, and other materials. Discovery of two large fragments of a wooden watercraft, a bayonet, a copper arrowhead, and flintlock gun barrels initially prompted researchers to hypothesize that the site might represent the remains of a U.S. Army boat that was attacked in 1817 by Seminole Indians while en route upriver. The episode, which caused the deaths of more than 30 soldiers and several women who were aboard the boat, led to the First Seminole War and the U.S. Army invasion of Florida. To investigate this hypothesis, a systematic survey of the riverbed was undertaken in the spring of 2002 to record underwater features and recover additional diagnostic artifacts. These activities employed side-scan sonar as well as diver visual investigations. This paper presents a case study of the value and broader significance of aggregate data where interpretation was underpinned by artefactual, historical and environmental
analysis.

The question of whether historic wrecks are risks or resources is a matter of perception and understanding. This paper discusses how shipwrecks can be, and have been, perceived as either risks and/or resources or neither, but yet how wrecks tend to be thoughtlessly labelled as resources, in particular by cultural heritage managers, a labelling with serious consequences for the management and curation of wrecks, encouraging or justifying actions by others which compromise the archaeological integrity and value of these sites.