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Fraser Sturt – a short biography

Hello, I am Fraser Sturt and I am one of the educators on the Shipwrecks and   Submerged Worlds course. I am a maritime archaeologist with specialisms in prehistory, geoarchaeology and advanced computational techniques. Essentially I am interested in how people's relationship with the world's oceans and seas has changed through time; from the impact of changing sea-levels on population and resource distribution through to the connections  created through seafaring. Continue reading →

Free Online Maritime Archaeology Course

Registration is now open for Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds,  a free four week online course offered in conjunction with FutureLearn and starting on the 6th October 2014. Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds gives you a unique opportunity  to gain an insight into the fascinating world of maritime archaeology, in an open access and engaging format. Continue reading →

Material seas and political acts

Monday was wonderfully watery at the British Water and Beyond symposium. Our session was truly interdisciplinary, with papers from an artist, literary scholar, archaeologist and anthropologist all converging on questions of maritime space, modernity and material seas. John Hartley discussed Deleuze, DeLanda and his own Contingency Research Platform, an absolutely amazing piece of marine hacking/boat building art. Continue reading →

Material seas

    In the last week I’ve spent an improbably large amount of time thinking about various philosophical conceptions of maritime space. This is due partly to Monday’s British Waters and Beyond: The cultural significance of the sea since 1800 at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, and partly to my increasing obsession with sailing directions. Continue reading →

Axes and ancient boat building skills

CMA masters students spent most of the long bank holiday weekend at Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest learning ancient boat and ship building skills. The backdrop of the River Beaulieu, the intermittent sunshine and occasional ice cream belie the serious labour (both physical and intellectual) involved in learning to work with adzes and axes. Using a range of replica tools students worked with chunks of oak to recreate boat building technologies from the Bronze Age to the Post Medieval period. Continue reading →

Heritage Day Flanders: Visiting Some Ship Wharfs

Last Sunday was Heritage Day in Flanders, a yearly event during which heritage sites open their doors to visitors and make an extra effort to organise guided walks, hold lectures, set up exhibitions etc. As a maritime archaeologist, I was naturally drawn to Flanders’ maritime heritage and decided to visit two ship wharfs. One located inland along the river Scheldt in Baasrode; the Scheepsvaartmuseum Baasrode and the other at the coast of Blankenberge; De Scute. Continue reading →

Modelling the potential for submerged prehistoric archaeology

  This wednesday as part of an English Heritage funded project we will be holding a workshop to discuss different options open to archaeologists when considering the potential for submerged prehistoric remains.  The session will draw together practitioners from the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands to discuss their experiences and ideas on topics including; deposit modelling, predictive modelling and underwater direct evaluation (sampling/trenching etc). Continue reading →