ECU Program in Maritime Studies

The team in Dr. McKinnon’s section of field school has arrived at and begun work at our first waterfront feature. On the first day of fieldwork, Site Manager Jim McKee led the team on a tour of the historic site to familiarize students with BTFA and the types of sites we’ll be looking at over the next two weeks!

Building New Skills Before Fieldwork Begins 📸

Today marked the final day of our weeklong workshop in 3D photogrammetry to kick off our summer field school!

A huge thank you to Dr. Kotaro Yamafune () for sharing his expertise and training our students to use photogrammetry as a tool for their research! This workshop covered everything needed to collect meaningful scientific data that can be applied in a wide range of settings.

We’re excited to put these new skills into practice as we head into the field next week and continue exploring innovative approaches to maritime archaeology.

Stay tuned for more updates from both sections of the field school as we head to New Bern, South Carolina, and !

We are excited to announce that Dr. Allyson Ropp has joined our team in a new position, as the Research Fellow!

Since graduating from our program in 2016, Allyson has worked as an underwater archaeologist in the non-profit, state, and academic sectors. She recently completed her doctorate in Integrated Coastal Sciences at ECU. Her research explored the stability of a wooden shipwreck by integrating identifiable site-formation processes, including microbial habitation, local water conditions, and use and salvage-related behavioral decisions. By using novel methods and integrating known, quantifiable processes, she showed that the wood of a shipwreck is continually degrading and influenced by these processes at different rates.

She has conducted maritime historical, underwater archaeological, and interdisciplinary research on sites and landscapes across the East Coast, from Vermont to Florida, in the Great Lakes, and internationally in the Marshall Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition to quantifying interrelated site formation processes, her research specialties include climate change impacts on coastal and submerged cultural resources, maritime cultural landscapes, and public archaeology.

Welcome aboard, Dr. Ropp! 🏴‍☠️

research

Congratulations to all of our graduates who defended their theses this semester!! 🎓🏴‍☠️

Ian Dunshee, “Extracting Diagnostic Information from Historic Ship Timber Surface Markings: The Case of La Concorde/Queen Anne’s Revenge (1710-1718)”

Allyson Ropp (PhD, ICS): “An Interdisciplinary Assessment of Exposed Wooden Shipwreck Structural Stability in a Shallow-Water Tidal-Fresh Ecosystem”

Ian Shoemaker, “North Bend: Archaeological Site Formation and the Hough-Type at Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary”

Christopher Jackson, “Reconstruction of the Tranters Creek Vessel and Investigation into its Sinking”

Jim Fowler, “An Archaeological and Engineering Analysis of Naval Gun Failure Patterns Utilizing Finite Element Analysis”

Don Swanbeck, "Natural Influences and Human Reflections: Modeling Cretan Culture in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages"

Addison Costa, “Holy What?: Reinterpreting the John’s Island Wreck in Edenton, North Carolina”

Dorian Record, “Consuming Indigeneity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Economic and Geophagic Consumption of Tonala Brunoda Ware”

We are so proud of all your hard work and look forward to following your journey in maritime archaeology!

A New Era of Innovative 3D Heritage Recording in ☠️🔍🏺

We are excited to announce that our program recently acquired an Leo 3D Laser Scanner! Yesterday, Caleb Overcash (), joined program faculty, staff, and our colleagues from at the OSA Conservation Lab for hands-on training with the new device.

The team had the opportunity to practice scanning shipwreck timbers from , along with recently conserved artifacts recovered at the historic waterfront. These activities demonstrated the scanner’s potential for documenting and preserving a range of archaeological material.

A special thank you to for providing the funding to purchase this cutting-edge tool! We look forward to expanding our digital documentation capabilities and applying the high-resolution scanner to a wide range of faculty- and graduate student-led research projects.

Keep following along as we continue to explore new technologies in maritime archaeology and heritage preservation!

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a71220722/shipwrecks-world-war-2/

Archaeologists Dove Into Unknown Waters—and Found Two Shipwrecks From World War II The sunken remnants of one Japanese and one American ship never met in combat, but they’ve shared the same final resting place since 1945.

Writing a New Chapter in American Maritime Archaeology! 📖

Congratulations to our Program Director, Dr. Jennifer McKinnon, and Dr. Della Scott-Ireton (Florida Public Archaeology Network - Northwest Region and UWF Maritime Archaeology) on the release of their new book, “The Archaeology of American Shipwrecks” from Florida Press!

This new publication highlights the essential role of watercraft in United States history and shows how the study of submerged sites deepens our understanding of the nation’s past. Drawing from shipwreck excavations and historical records, the book explores how maritime archaeologists locate, document and preserve these important sites.

From Indigenous dugout canoes and colonial vessels to whaling ships and modern coastal defense craft, the book traces the role of maritime transport in exploration, commerce, warfare and expansion across centuries. It also examines new discoveries, evolving methods and the ethical questions shaping the future of the field.

Pick up a copy for yourself or for use as a textbook and join us in exploring the dynamic story of America’s waterways!

Congratulations to alum Colonel Geoffrey Anthony, US Marine Corps (Retired) on his recent piece in the June Naval History Magazine. This article builds on the thesis he defended last year!

Friendly Fire Over the Marianas In the summer of 1944, tragedy strikes thrice for Patrol Squadron 16 in this tale of mixed signals and malfunctioning equipment.

Dive Into Community-Focused 🌊🔬

Join an upcoming webinar hosted by the NOAA Library exploring interdisciplinary and community-inclusive approaches to studying and preserving World War II underwater cultural heritage in the Pacific. The highlighted project brings together historians, archaeologists, biologists, conservation scientists, photogrammetry specialists, GIS specialists, veterans, and Pacific Islanders to focus on WWII heritage research.

The webinar will feature Dr. Jen McKinnon and Dr. Erin Field, who will discuss how archaeologists, biologists and community partners investigate WWII sites as cultural landscapes, ecological habitats and Blue Economy resources.

Topics include maritime archaeology, site preservation, emerging technologies like 3D modeling and eDNA, and the role of local communities and veterans in shaping research and stewardship.

Register and learn more:
🔗 https://library.noaa.gov/seminars/upcoming/Submerged-WWII-Heritage-Research-in-the-Pacific

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research on underwater heritage in the Pacific!

A BIG congratulations to Dorian Record for defending her thesis, Consuming Indigeneity: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Economic and Geophagic Consumption of Tonala Brunida Ware! And another congratulations to Dorian for her recent hire with Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research! We wish you well in your new position!

Congratulations to Addison Costa for successfully defending his thesis, “Holy What?: Reinterpreting the John's Island Wreck in Edenton, North Carolina." Addison will begin the PhD with the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University in Fall 2026 and we wish him the best of luck!