I am Natash’ja Hunter, a native of Enfield, NC and a rising senior at Fayetteville State University. This summer I have the pleasure of serving as an intern at the NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources (NCR) Queen Anne’s Revenge Conservation Lab (QAR Lab), through the HBCU/MIHE Internship Program.
Topics Related to Cultural Resources (DCR)
As you may know if you have been following the story of Queen Anne’s Revenge, we have discovered 30 cannon on site so far and recovered 24 of the
We never know what we will find when x-raying a concretion.
Naval warfare was a particularly bloody affair when it came down to trading blows, and pirate crews used every form of projectile they could get their hands on to get their point across.
As you have been reading along, you have probably come to understand how important pewter is to dating the ship – particularly the pewter
It may surprise you that despite all of our combined expertise and research connections worldwide, some artifacts have us stumped.
A common question we are asked here at the lab is “How do the archaeologists and conservators identify an artifact?” How do we know what we are looking at, what it is made of, and what it was used for?
When we last visited the story of the gentleman pirate, Stede Bonnet had been convicted for his crimes of piracy. Bonnet had to wait an entire month until his scheduled hanging.
Thoughts of piracy evoke visions of vessels and men armed to the teeth. Until recently, weapons from QAR were primarily represented by large artillery. The only trace of small firearms has consisted of a few flintlock mechanisms and copper alloy fittings, such as side plates, trigger guards, and a lone musketoon barrel. It is possible that these parts, having been left behind, were extras or non-functional. Usable firearms would have been easily offloaded following the ship’s grounding.
By the fall of 1718, Blackbeard had returned to his wicked ways in full force. Merchants and planters alike complained about the lack of action on the part of Governor Charles Eden, who may or may not have been colluding with the pirate. North Carolina residents appealed to Virginia’s Governor Alexander Spotswood instead.