Archaeology of Ancient Mediterranean Shipwrecks

• Grant number: 24/18514-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: March 17, 2025
• End date: March 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Historical Archaeology
• Principal Investigator: Vagner Carvalheiro Porto
• Grantee: Vagner Carvalheiro Porto
• Visiting researcher: Justin Leidwanger
• Visiting researcher institution: Stanford University/Su, United States
• Host Institution: Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Why care about ancient ships? What can sunken sites tell us about our past? Focusing primarily on the archaeological record of shipwrecks, along with literary and iconographic evidence as well as contemporary theory, this curse examines how and why ancient mariners ventured across the "wine-dark seas" of the Mediterranean for colonization, travel, warfare, pilgrimage, and especially commerce. We will explore interdisciplinary approaches to the development of maritime contacts and communication from prehistory through the end of Mediterranean antiquity, with particular emphasis on the Greco-Roman world. At the same time, we will engage with practical methodologies of maritime archaeology, which allows us to explore the material record first-hand. (AU)