Author: Ian Dunshee, MA Student, ECU Program in Maritime Studies
Graduate students come to join the ECU Program in Maritime Studies from all over the world to learn the ins and outs of maritime archaeology. It is renowned as one of the top programs to learn the profession, producing many of the most active scientists and cultural resource managers in the discipline today. Focusing not only on the more academic aspects of this special blend of historical and underwater research, it is also steeped in practical field training and professional development. Chief among the many opportunities it provides is the chance to assist state staff in studying and conserving the recovered remains of Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR; formerly La Concorde), a ship most popularly known as having once been captained by the notorious pirate Edward Teach (Blackbeard). I took up this chance to get a closer look at the vessel through my own investigations to see what new secrets might be revealed about the people that built and sailed it.
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, I found an interest in the field since childhood. I began my career graduating with a BS in Anthropology, a BA in French, and a Geographic Information Science (GIS) certificate from the University of Iowa. While learning about the past material cultures of Iowa and the French West Indies (where I was a foreign exchange student for a year), my efforts focused on developing the role that technologies like lidar (3D laser scanning), aerial imagery, and the automated digitization of historic maps could play in cultural heritage research. During the 5 years following graduation, I sought to diversify my professional experience to become a more well-rounded scientist. First working with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa and the Minnesota DNR to preserve historic mining sites and heritage in the Iron Range, I was awarded a Fulbright grant to document indigenous and historic rock art sites using photogrammetry (3D modelling using photographs) on the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia in the Lesser Antilles. It was there that I realized underwater sites were a key part of understanding the past cultural landscape of any place. This newfound interest smoldered for 2 1/2 more years while I continued my career in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest out of New Mexico before finally arriving at ECU to learn everything I could.
Having always been interested in the archaeology and history of everywhere, I have continually focused my efforts not on one particular time period or region but rather on the ways that new technology can help us better understand the past anywhere. With this intention, I decided to pursue an ever-developing aspect of the discipline: using these new techniques to document and decipher toolmarks left on the structural remnants of historic wooden vessels. Being a site of local, national, and international importance with approximately half of its remains recovered, QAR was an obvious choice for this kind of research and presented a special opportunity that would be difficult to find outside of ECU. Not only did the lab offer a prime subject of study but while there, I gained even more from my experience by learning about how such a large conservation lab works and how artifacts can be preserved for generations to come.
Images:
-(Main Image) Ian taking caliper measurements of a fastener on the sternpost. Image by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
-Ian Dunshee. Image by Ian Dunshee. Used with permission.
-Ian Dunshee in the field. Image by Ian Dunshee. Used with permission.
-Ian photographing a timber. Image by NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.