Fieldwork and Research

Research Focus

I am an anthropological archaeologist that interprets maritime history and archaeology through the lens of anthropological thought and theory. I have spent the early part of my professional career teaching within an interdisciplinary Maritime Studies B.A. program, where my scholarship focuses on maritime culture, community, craft, history, archaeology and folklore from the earliest times to the present day. My research focuses on an intersection of archaeology, material science, and environmental science: the specifics of ancient and historic ship construction, and on how, through the process of ship construction, humans in the past have used and altered the coastal and forest environments for their own means. 

My archaeological practice inspires my artistic one, which explores similar themes; more information can be found here! 

Although the examination of timber is the most common mechanism for studying ship construction, I am more interested in humble, ephemeral materials used in constructing, fitting out, and maintaining ships...textiles, cordage, resin and pitches, paints, pigments, and more. 

At their most basic, studying these materials helps archaeologists understand ancient peoples’ design and practical decisions made regarding a ship’s hull. However, they also illuminate broader aspects of ancient economies such as the material culture, the industry of the time, and the location of a ship’s home port or place of construction. They help us to contextualize ship construction with respect to a given location and time, situated within a number of associated widespread or local ancient industries. This is significant in that the results of an archaeological analysis can become a proxy for environmental research; understanding how and why ancient people interacted with and altered their local biomes for economic or craft purpose can help inform understanding of ancient ecology, economy, and the anthropogenic alteration of the natural world, which, of course, has broad implication outside of just ships! 

In my research, I've discovered that specific materials or craft traditions (and sometimes even very ephemeral, minute, or “trivial” materials or traditions) were important for the creation, maintenance, and communication of specific cultural identities. As well, I've had fascinating insights about how humans manipulated ancient maritime landscapes to cultivate materials needed for the creation of identity. I have thus able to move past basic processual interpretation of the archaeological record and into more thoughtful ethnographic analysis.