Underwater Archaeology Underwater Archaeology at at

Port Royal, JamaicaPort Royal, Jamaica

Underwater Archaeology Underwater Archaeology at at

Port Royal, JamaicaPort Royal, Jamaica

ATAMU/INA PROJECT

QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDEREDQUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED 1. How was the site found? 2. How was the site excavated? 3. What was found? 4. How were questions answered? ---- Keeping in mind that any excavation of an

underwater site is going to be more complicated than expected, more expensive than expected, and the analysis will go on much longer than expected and require the assistance of a number of different specialists!

Catastrophic Sites

Archaeological sites that are created Archaeological sites that are created in a matter of minutes preserving in in a matter of minutes preserving in

situ a wide array of artifactual situ a wide array of artifactual material. Get quote. material. Get quote.

Port Royal, JAMAICA

Largest English town in the New World when it sank in an earthquake on

June 7, 1692.

The only submerged town in the New World

Located at the tip of a 18 mile long sand spit makes for a precarious location subject to the whims of

nature.

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology spent 10 years excavating on the 17th-century, submerged remains of Port Royal. More than 150 students worked on the site.

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology spent 10 years excavating on the 17th-century, submerged remains of Port Royal. More than 150 students worked on the site.

Some sites such as the

sunken town of

Port Royal are so well-known they are never

lost. There is an

abundance of historic documents and maps.

Taylor’s 1688 map of Port Royal.

Of course the significant thing about Port Royal, is that much of it sunk into Kingston Harbor during an

earthquake on June 7, 1692, ca. 11:40 A.M.

In Historical Archaeology the documents and even the frozen

hands of a recovered watches reveal details on everyday life in

Port Royal in the late 17th Century.

Broadside published in London in

August 1692

Map of Port

Royal, 1807

Assumption was that liquifaction sunk the town

with little horizontal

displacement

Land Support -- Living Quarters, Work Headquarters

Aerial View 0f Port Royal ca. 1960

Barge anchored over excavation

Barge ActivityBarge Activity

The shallow diving is conducted from a support barge and is

done during 3 hour or longer dives using HOOKA.

Land view of dredges used to excavate.

In shallow water, all excavations are done with a water dredge that control the

direction of the exhaust across the bottom through a hose

Air Lifts such as used in earlier excavations are not effective in

shallow water for they dump the

sediments on top of your head, destroying all

visibility

Port Royal- Sunken City, Brick Buildings, Shallow Diving, HOOKA, Poor Visibility, Water Dredge

2 divers working in two 10 ft squares inside Building 5

All Catastrophic sites are characterized by the great abundance of well-preserved artifacts - pipes, pewter, porcelain, bottles!

Array of Artifacts on floor being excavated

Building 1 -- built in two stages

-- housing a Cobbler, a Tavern and

a Pipe/Wine Shop

Artifact Distribution in Building 1

Building 1, Architectural Details

Each excavated building

becomes a chapter in the story

of the daily life

of the town

Building Building 11

Following are sequential stages in the excavation of Room 1in

Building 5

Sequential Excavation Stages Sequential Excavation Stages

21 pewter plates in stairwell

Earthenware Pot in fallen doorway

Cistern, Privy and Walls

Pots, pewter plate, coconut &

Wicker Fish Basket

Mapping in Poor Visibility

Errors always creep in and accumulate, but modern science has provided

instrumentations that allow us to overcome some of the difficulties.

The difficulties of plotting the building and artifacts were facilitated by SHARPS - Sonic High Accuracy Ranging and Positioning System.

3-D computer generated drawing3-D computer generated drawing

The excavations of Building 4/5

revealed a first -- a building rammed by a ship during the earthquake!

Built in two stages. Bldg. 4 was tacked

on to it. Note the pattern of hearths and

sharing of cisterns.

Drawing of 1666 London -- Interpretations

Hogarth LithographHogarth Lithograph

The excavations of 8 buildings

allow us to reconstruct the alignment of

houses along the intersection of

Lime and Queen Street

Street View of Excavated Houses

Land Excavations at Port Royal

New Street Excavations

Lime Street Excavations

St. Paul’s Church

New Street Excavations

Water Pipe Trench cut down housing block on landward end of Lime Street

Intersecting House Walls

Underwater Archaeology has shown how densely packed

the multi-storied brick building were in the town..

The area at the NW end of Line street at intersections of Queen and High Streets

was excavated..

Artifact AnalysisArtifact Analysis

With the 10 year excavation completed, the detailed analyses of

the thousands of recovered artifacts is

started

Slipware Posset Pot

Delftware Vase

and drawing

Chinese Export Porcelain: Blanc de Chin, Batavia

Lighting in a Port Royal House

. A late 17th-century pewter candlestick with a wax catcherA late 17th-century pewter candlestick with a wax catcher

Pewter, because of the presence of maker’s marks and ownership marks are particularly useful for identifying

occupants of building. Pewter is seldom found on land sites

Summary of X-Ray Fluorescence DataPort Royal Jamaica Pewter, Test Performed by Janice CarlsonWinterthur Musuem, Delaware

Object Acc.# Part Sn Pb Cu Sb Zn Bi

Spoon -1035 BR 94.57 3.58 1.16 0.00 0.00 0.30HR 95.50 1.95 1.28 0.00 0.00 0.32HO 93.30 4.35 1.06 0.00 0.00 0.31

Tankard -167-1Side 93.39 5.41 0.46 0.00 0.00 0.32

Charger-509-6 Rim 94.85 1.90 2.55 0.00 0.00 0.25Obv. Ctr. 96.75 1.68 1.45 0.00 0.00 0.27

Charger-255-5 Obv 87.40 11.34 1.36 0.00 0.00 0.21Rev 90.98 7.50 1.05 0.00 0.00 0.16

Plate-688-18 Obv 84.98 3.54 11.41 0.00 0.00 0.08Rev 95.26 3.32 1.29 0.00 0.00 0.13

Plate-688-19 Obv 91.40 1.81 6.41 0.00 0.00 0.38Rev 93.83 4.58 1.51 0.00 0.00 0.01

Summary of X-Ray Fluorescence DataPort Royal Jamaica Pewter, Test Performed by Janice CarlsonWinterthur Musuem, Delaware

Object Acc.# Part Sn Pb Cu Sb Zn Bi

Spoon -1035 BR 94.57 3.58 1.16 0.00 0.00 0.30HR 95.50 1.95 1.28 0.00 0.00 0.32HO 93.30 4.35 1.06 0.00 0.00 0.31

Tankard -167-1Side 93.39 5.41 0.46 0.00 0.00 0.32

Charger-509-6 Rim 94.85 1.90 2.55 0.00 0.00 0.25Obv. Ctr. 96.75 1.68 1.45 0.00 0.00 0.27

Charger-255-5 Obv 87.40 11.34 1.36 0.00 0.00 0.21Rev 90.98 7.50 1.05 0.00 0.00 0.16

Plate-688-18 Obv 84.98 3.54 11.41 0.00 0.00 0.08Rev 95.26 3.32 1.29 0.00 0.00 0.13

Plate-688-19 Obv 91.40 1.81 6.41 0.00 0.00 0.38Rev 93.83 4.58 1.51 0.00 0.00 0.01

Tankards & Pewter Bowls

A Stuart Tankard A Stuart Tankard with cherub with cherub thumb piecethumb piece

Historic Documents

Wills, Inventories, Land Patents, Deed Wills, Inventories, Land Patents, Deed Records, Guild Records, Shipping Records, Guild Records, Shipping

Records, Law Suits, Northern Colonies Records, Law Suits, Northern Colonies Records ---Records ---

Begin to put everything into Begin to put everything into context!context!

The maker’s mark of Simon

Benning

And the NCI ownerships marks

of Nathaniel Colson and his

wife, Jane

Simon Benning’s Will

Simon Benning’s Jamaica Inventory

Broadside published in

London in August 1692

SUPRISES

Skeletal Material

Unexpected artifacts

Two of three skeletons of children in Building 5

Burial Crypts in Church Yard

Middle America Three-legged

metate encrusted onto a cast iron

cooking pot

Three-legged metate with King Vulture head and mano made from the broken leg of a similar metate

Port Royal and other underwater archaeology project conducted by Texas

A&M University and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology are highlighted

on the WWW pages maintained at the WEB address below:

http:/nautarch.tamu.edu/inaLook for the Port Royal Project Link