Institute of Nautical Archaeology
Encyclopedia
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) is the world’s oldest organization devoted to the study of humanity’s interaction with the sea through the practice of archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

. INA’s founder Dr. George Bass pioneered the science of underwater excavation in the 1960s through work at Cape Gelidonya
Cape Gelidonya
Cape Gelidonya near Finike, Turkey is the site of a late Bronze Age wreck . In view of the cargo's nature and composition the excavators have proposed a possible levantine provenance. The remains of the ship sat at a depth of about 27 m, on irregular rocky bottom. It was located in 1954, and the...

 and other ancient shipwreck sites off the coast of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Since then, INA has expanded its scope and activities to work globally on shipwrecks and submerged sites and worked with Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 in College Station
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 to establish the Nautical Archaeology Program
Nautical Archaeology Program
The Nautical Archaeology Program is a degree-granting program within the at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.The Nautical Archaeology Program offers admission to students seeking graduate degrees in nautical archaeology. The primary focus is on training archaeologists to become...

 there. Hundreds of archaeologists have received their training at Texas A&M and today, after more than three decades of the Nautical Archaeology Program’s existence, many of the world’s leading scholars have received their degrees from Texas A&M.

INA is a not-for-profit group founded in 1973. Today it has members all over the world, and counts among them professional archaeologists, students, and many others from all walks of life. INA’s members are united in their passion for seeking out lost ships, and applying the highest standards of science and art to excavating and studying them to unlock their secrets. They do so to add to humanity’s understanding of seafaring’s role in the development of civilization. Three-quarters of the earth is covered by water, and in the fabric of human history, the most pervasive thread is our association with the planet’s oceans, rivers and lakes.

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology exists to do more than set a standard for academic and scientific excellence. INA works for the public to share what nautical archaeologists do, with anyone with an interest. INA is also committed to the preservation of the world’s shipwrecks and other archaeological sites, but specifically to finding the most significant sites and excavating them to unlock their secrets.

To meet that challenge, INA’s professional and volunteer members and affiliates have conducted fieldwork in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. They have worked on the world’s oldest known shipwrecks, and on wrecks as recent as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Their work has rewritten the history of ancient trade in the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

, the development of the ship, shipbuilding in the Ancient World, the saga of European expansion into the New World, and wars for the control of the Americas.

As INA approaches its fortieth anniversary in 2012, it faces an amazing future filled with new opportunities beneath the seven seas, and an ongoing role in the never-ending quest to learn more about past as we excavate history’s lost and forgotten ships in the depths.

External links

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