The
Nautical
Archaeology
Digital Library

ShipLAB Thesis and Dissertations

The Nautical Archaeology Digital Library Project was partly built upon previous research carried out at Texas A&M by students from the Departments of Anthropology, Computer Science, and Visualization. One of the objectives of the Nautical Archaeology Digital Library is to organize and connect graduate and undergraduate projects focusing on the study of maritime landscapes or cultural heritage. Below is a list of the thesis and dissertations included in this study.

Ongoing

Painting of a European-style ship

Charles Bendig PhD. 2016-present. Anthropology, Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. An Oceanic Tradition: Understanding European Expansionism through a Hybrid Shipbuilding Methodology.

Antigua coast

Arik Bord (PhD 2019-present). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Antigua Maritime Landscape.

Iberian ship

Ricardo Borrero (PhD 2016-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Iberian Shipbuilding and Design in the Days of Cutting-Edge Protoscience (1570-1712).

A concreted metal object on the seafloor

Nick Budsberg (PhD 2011-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Theory and Practice in Nautical Archaeology: A Case Study of The Highbourne Cay Shipwreck .

Indianola harbor from sea

Sam Cuellar (PhD 2015-present). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Indianola Maritime Landscape.

Naval battle between European ships

Marijo Gauthier-Bérubé (PhD 2016-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Building Ships at the end of the 17th century, France: Standardization and Tradition in the Shipyards.

Site plan of the HMS Colossus

Michael Lewis (MS 2018-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Digital 3D Reconstruction of British 74-Gun Ship-Of-The-Line, H.M.S. Colossus, from it’s Original Construction Plans.

Woodcut of a ship sinking

Chase Oswald (MS 2018-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Shipwrecks of the Tragic History of the Sea.

Map showing coastline of Peru

Raul Palomino (PhD 2018-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Shipwrecks of the bay of Callao, Lima, Peru.

Olivia Thomas (PhD 2018-present) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. A Maritime Cultural Landscape of St. Croix, U.S.V.I.

Completed

Josh Farrar working in the conservation lab

Joshua Farrar (PhD 2015-2020) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Milam Street Bridge Artifact Assemblage: Unravelling a Mystery.

Silk screen painting of a Japanese ship

Randal Sasaki (PhD 2009-2019) Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The History, Present, and Future of Underwater Cultural Heritage Management of Japan.

Antigua coast

Arik Bord (MA 2015-2019). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Crossroads on the Coast: A Preliminary Examination of Bridgetown, Antigua.

Lilia Campana (MA 2006-2010). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Vettor Fausto (1490-1546), Professor of Greek and Naval Architect: a New Light on the 16th-Century Manuscript Misure Di Vascelli Etc. di…Proto Dell’Arsenale di Venetia.

Diver recording features of a shipwreck

Chris Cartellone (PhD 2009-2015). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. H.M.S. Solebay and Maritime Archaeological Heritage Preservation in Nevis, West Indies.

3D computer model of a row of three townhouses

Chelsea Cohen (MS 2016-2017). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Raising Port Royal: A Geospatial Reconstruction of the 1692 City Through Integrated GIS and 3D Modeling.

3D model of a ship, shown from three different views

Charles Justus Cook (MS 2010-2011). Department of Visualization. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Frederic Parke, A Parametric Model of the Portuguese Nau.

Drawing of how to cut trees for compass timber

Paul Creasman (PhD 2006-2010). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Extracting Cultural Information from Ship Timbers.

Drawing of a 17th century town with people in the streets

Katie Custer (MA 2000-2004). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Wrought Iron Hand Tools from the Underwater Archaeological Excavations of Colonial Port Royal, Jamaica, c. 1692.

View of a bay from the battlements of a fort

Bryanna DuBard (MA 2005-2013). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Key to All the Indies: Defense of the Isthmus of Panama.

Painting of a doctor examining a patient while others look on

Coral Eginton (MA 2008-2014). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Dutch ship pharmacies.

Photo of a inlet with a boat docked

Samila Ferreira (PhD 2013-2015). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Policies of Memory, Politics of Forgetting.

A diver examines the wreck of the Santo António de Tanna

Tiago Fraga (MA 2002-2007). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Santo António de Tanna: Story and Reconstruction.

Man poles a small boat through the water while two people sit in it

Raphael Franca (MS 2016-2017). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. A Geospatial Analysis of Pre-Columbian Florida Log Boats.

Diver surfaces holding two coins

Laura Gongaware (MA 2006-2013). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Treasure Hunting: Three Case Studies.

3D computer model of an Indiaman

Alex Hazlett (PhD 2001-2007). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Nao of the Livro Nautico: Reconstructing a Sixteenth Century Indiaman from Texts.

3D computer model, shown from four angles, of a Venetian Galley

Courtney Higgins (MA 2005-2012). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Venetian Galley of Flanders: from Medieval 2-Dimensional Treatises to 21st Century 3-Dimensional Model.

Archaeologists working on the excavation of the Pantano Longarini shipwreck

Sarah Kampbell (MA 2004-2007). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Pantano Longarini Shipwreck: A Reanalysis.

Painting of a ship with three square batten lug sails

Timothy Kane (MA 2002-2006). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Influence and Evolution: The Development of the Batten Lug Sail.

Outline of a hull showing stem, stern, deadwood, and midframe location from Instrucción Nautica

Erika Laanela (MA 1999-2008). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Instrucción Náutica (1587) by Diego García de Palacio: An Early Nautical Handbook from Mexico.

Drawing of a Japanese boat

Hiroaki Miyashita (MA 2004-2006). Anthropology. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Ancient Ships of Japan.

Digitial chart

Carlos Monroy (PhD 2006-2010). Computer Science. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Richard Furuta. A Digital Library Approach in the Reconstruction of Ancient Sunken Ships.

Painting of two ships

Blanca Rodriguez Mendoza (MA 2003-2008). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Standardization of Spanish Shipbuilding: Ordenanzas para la Fabrica de Navios de Guerra y Mercante – 1607, 1613, 1618.

Map

Kelsey Rooney (MS 2016-2017). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Power of Location Predictive Modeling and GIS.

Photo of the Vasa from the Swedish museum

Kelby Rose (PhD 2008-2014). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Reverse Naval Architecture of Vasa, a 17th-Century Swedish Warship.

A map showing four types of hull construction and where along the eastern coast of China they come from

Randall Sasaki (MA 2002-2008). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Origin of the Lost Fleet of the Mongol Empire.

A drawing of a four-masted caravel

George Schwarz (MA 2003-2008). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The History and Development of Caravels.

3D model of the frames and hulls of a ship

Matt Suarez (MS 2015-2016). Visualization Sciences. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Frederic Parke. Computer Aided Modeling In Archaeology.

Two archaeologists examining a partially revealed shipwreck on a beach

Rodrigo Torres (PhD 2010-2015). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Archaeology of Shore Stranded Shipwrecks of Southern Brazil.

3D computer model of a Portuguese nau, seen from on deck

Audrey Wells (MA 2006-2008). Visualization Sciences. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Frederic Parke. Virtual Reconstruction of a Seventeenth-Century Portuguese Nau.

A line drawing of a round-stern ship from the Rhodes manuscript

Vincent Valenti (MA 2005-2009). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Transitions in Medieval Mediterranean Shipbuilding: A Reconstruction of the Nave Quadra of the Michael of Rhodes Manuscript.

A painting of the steamboat Arabia steaming down a river

Kristen Vogel (PhD 2005-2017). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Bruce Dickson. ‘It Wasn’t the Money Boat’: The Myth and Reality of Treasure Hunting for Western River Steamboats in the United States.

3D model of an excavated shipwreck made with photogrammetry

Kotaro Yamafune (PhD 2012-2015). Anthropology. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. Using Computer Vision Photogrammetry (Agisoft PhotoScan) to Record and Analyze Underwater Shipwreck Sites.

Historical Japanese screen silk painting of a Portuguese ship in a Japanese harbor

Kotaro Yamafune (MA 2009-2012). Anthropology. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Filipe Castro. The Portuguese Century in Japan and the Namban Screens.

Yue Yan (MA 2015-2016) Computer Science. Texas A&M University. Committee Chair: Richard Furuta. Data mining, analysis and information retrieval.