https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/courses/detail/20261_HIS-204
Buried beneath centuries of sand and salt water, shipwrecks are time capsules preserving worlds of trade, empire, and catastrophe that might otherwise be lost to history. This course explores six extraordinary wrecks and the societies they once served, tracing the lives of pirates, soldiers, merchants, and passengers through the objects they left behind. Traveling from the Mediterranean to the Florida Keys, we’ll encounter discoveries ranging from bronze cannons and shattered ceramic amphoras to gold coins, splintered hulls, and the Antikythera mechanism, often described as the world’s first computer. Case studies include the ancient Antikythera wreck, the pirate ship Whydah Gally, and the Spanish treasure ships Nuestra Señora de Atocha and Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, whose discoveries sparked dramatically different legal battles over salvage rights, national ownership, and cultural heritage. We’ll reconstruct final voyages, explore underwater archaeology, and uncover how lost ships illuminate civilizations long vanished beneath the sea.
Underwater Archaeology and Maritime History jobs 