Underwater Archaeology Field School starts Monday

Archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum will begin their annual field school in St. Augustine on June 2nd with sixteen undergrad and graduate college students from around the world and as far away as Australia.

This year, students will be diving on a 1782 British Loyalist shipwreck located one mile off St. Augustine’s historic coast. Lighthouse archaeologists have been excavating this wreck since 2010. Artifacts recovered from the ship have helped the team piece together the story of British Loyalists who evacuated Charleston, S.C., near the end of the American Revolution.

“Field school is a great opportunity for college students to get experience with all the aspects of archaeological research,” said Chuck Meide, Director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP). “Our training is unique in that we are one of very few organizations that can provide underwater excavation experience.”

The 2014 student roster includes Molly Trivelpiece (Longwood University), Hannah Lucke (University of Puget Sound), Bridget Stanton (Flagler College), Leeah Worley (Lycombing College), James Kinsella (University of Central Florida), Christopher McCarron (University of Alabama, Birmingham), Madeline Roth (St. Mary’s College of Maryland), Michael Reese (University of Colorado), Chandler von Cannon (Flagler College), Eden Andes (Florida State University) and Allyson Ropp (University of North Carolina, Asheville).

The students have arrived in St. Augustine for the educational experience of a lifetime. For the next four weeks, they will undergo hands-on, underwater research and excavation on historic shipwrecks.

In addition to methodological training and academic lectures, students of the museum’s accredited educational program will receive valuable real-world experience in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, scientific diving and laboratory analysis. They will also participate in the museum’s public archaeology programs, including the Lost Ships guided tour.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the water,” said Olivia McDaniel, a University of Idaho graduate who will be a field school supervisor this year. “Nothing in the classroom can really match the experience of discovering and preserving artifacts that haven’t seen daylight in over two hundred years.”

McDaniel enjoyed her 2013 field school experience so much she stayed through the fall to assist with research documents and artifact conservation. This year she joins fellow supervisors Dave Conklin (University of Miami), Hunter Whitehead (University of West Florida) and Hunter Brendel (Flinders University, Australia).

Throughout the month of June, follow the students as they blog their field school experiences