Archaeology and the Social History of Ships

Maritime archaeology deals with shipwrecks and is carried out by divers rather than diggers. It embraces maritime history and analyses changes in shipbuilding, navigation and seamanship and offers fresh perspectives on the cultures and societies that produced the ships and sailors. Drawing on detailed past and recent case studies, Richard A. Gould provides an up-to-date review of the field that includes dramatic new findings arising from improved undersea technologies. This second edition of Archaeology and the Social History of Ships has been updated throughout to reflect new findings and new interpretations of old sites. The new edition explores advances in undersea technology in archaeology, especially remotely operated vehicles. The book reviews many of the major recent shipwreck findings, including the Vasa in Stockholm, the Viking wrecks at Roskilde Fjord and the Titanic.

Author Biography

Richard A. Gould is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Brown University. In addition to writing articles for numerous journals including American Antiquity and The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, he has contributed to several edited volumes, among them the Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology and The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. He is the author of twelve books, including Disaster Archaeology, Recovering the Past, Shipwreck Anthropology and Living Archaeology.