LAMP Program Descriptions

Archaeological Research

The heart of LAMP's mission is to conduct meaningful archaeological research on land, on inland waterways, and in the ocean in order to better understand the rich maritime heritage of St. Augustine, the nation's oldest port, and its surrounding region. LAMP's staff of four maritime archaeologists along with visiting scientists, students, and volunteers, investigate and monitor historic shipwreck and other maritime sites in order to study and preserve the physical remains of Northeast Florida's past maritime activities. LAMP has studied the wrecks of numerous sunken sailing and steam-powered ships, in addition to the remains of wharves, piers, locally-built boats, marine structures, and the original St. Augustine Lighthouse. From 2007-2009 LAMP staff oversaw the First Coast Maritime Archaeology Project, a $281,000 research program funded by the state of Florida's Division of Historical Resources.

Historical Research

In addition to the archaeological investigation of physical remains, LAMP maintains an active program of archival and documentary research and employs a professional paleographer (expert in colonial Spanish script). Since 2007, LAMP historical researchers have traveled to archival depositories in London, Seville, and throughout the United States to search for and transcribe historical documents related to St. Augustine's and Florida's maritime history. Translated copies of primary source material, including many documents related to the colonial Spanish and British periods, are archived in LAMP's research library. LAMP also maintains extensive databases of port records and ship losses.

Archaeological Conservation

Archaeological conservation is necessary to properly treat, stabilize, and preserve human-made objects or artifacts recovered from underwater archaeological sites. Waterlogged artifacts that are not subjected to physical and chemical treatment in the laboratory usually face rapid deterioration and often utter destruction when exposed to air for prolonged periods. LAMP employs a professional archaeological conservator and maintains several indoor and outdoor laboratory spaces for the treatment of artifacts of a variety of materials (wood, metal, leather, textile, ceramic, stone, etc). Artifacts treated in LAMP's conservation laboratories range from small items such as coins and nails to large objects including a 2000 lb cannon, a 14-ft long copper-sheathed wooden rudder, and a 20-ft long dugout canoe.

Scientific Diving Program

LAMP's Scientific Diving Program is responsible for overseeing safe research diving operations, for maintaining a network of volunteer divers, and for providing specialized dive training for LAMP staff, students, and volunteers. LAMP's Diving Safety Officer and the Diving Control Board is responsible for developing and maintaining protocols and safety standards, training programs, and maintaining a fully-stocked diving locker. During the 2009 field season (late May through the end of August) LAMP conducted 421 working dives, generating a total of 397 hours, 20 minutes of bottom time, over 52 diving days. This was accomplished using a total of 38 divers, including 7 LAMP staff and interns and 31 volunteer divers, and was performed with a perfect safety record.

LAMP Boatworks

Founded in 2007, LAMP Boatworks is the Museum's volunteer-driven, traditional wooden boatbuilding program. The craft of wooden boatbuilding has been practiced longer in St. Augustine than anywhere else in the U.S., and LAMP Boatworks is dedicated to keeping this tradition alive and relevant for new generations. LAMP Boatworks involves a small but dedicated group of volunteers, who at the close of 2009 have finished three vessels with four more underway, and has recently passed its first U.S. Coast Guard builder's inspection. LAMP Boatworks focuses on the construction of traditional vessel types once common in the waters of St. Augustine and Northeast Florida, and also works with archaeologists to aid with the interpretation, reconstruction, and experimental replication of archaeological boat and ship remains.

MARC Program

In partnership with the St. Johns County School System, LAMP in 2000 initiated a unique high school underwater archaeology program called the Maritime Archaeology Research Class or MARC program. LAMP staff helps teach an elective class taught to date in two local schools in which students learn the basics of archaeology and marine science, and have an opportunity to participate in a semester-long scuba certification class taught by LAMP diving instructors. Certified students get to dive on historic shipwrecks and work with professional archaeologists, and continue their education through advanced diving and archaeology workshops. In 2009 for the first time a foreign exchange student, from Germany, participated in the program and went on to volunteer for several weeks as an archaeological diver. A number of students have gone on to pursue careers in marine science after participating in the MARC program, and all participants have enjoyed a unique educational adventure and gained an appreciation for marine science and the underwater environment.

College Internship Program

LAMP maintains an ongoing college internship program, providing a rare hands-on opportunity for both undergraduate and graduate students to learn all aspects of maritime archaeology from the seafloor to the laboratory. From 2007 to 2009, LAMP has employed more than 15 student interns from universities across Florida and the U.S.A., and from as far away as Flinders University in South Australia. LAMP maintains a Field House with dormitory housing for interns and field school students.

Maritime Archaeological Field School

A field school is an irreplaceable component in the education of any student pursuing a career in archaeology. Each June LAMP oversees an intense 3-4 week accredited educational program allowing both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in a marine survey and underwater excavation of a historic shipwreck site. In addition to methodological training and academic lectures, students get valuable real-world experience in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, scientific diving and seamanship, and laboratory analysis. LAMP has partnered with a variety of universities, including Flinders University, Florida State University, Syracuse University, and Plymouth State University, to organize and implement this four-credit course.

Northeast Florida Symposium on Maritime Archaeology

LAMP founded and sponsors this annual event every March (Florida Archaeology Month) with partners including the Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Florida Public Archaeology Network. Each year the Symposium invites around 30 scholars, both local and from across the U.S., for a wide array of presentations relating the latest research in the fields of maritime history and nautical archaeology. In addition to esteemed experts in their disciplines, speakers include a significant number of graduate student researchers each year. The Symposium is free and open to the public, and since 2008 has reached an aggregate audience of almost two thousand people.

Ongoing Maritime Archaeology Lecture Series

In addition to the annual Symposium, LAMP sponsors an ongoing Maritime Archaeology Lecture series featuring LAMP researchers and invited scholars on an approximate monthly basis. In addition to lectures held at the Lighthouse, this includes invited presentations by LAMP researchers at a wide variety of venues throughout northeast Florida. These are free and open to the public.

The George R. Fischer Maritime Archaeology Research Library

LAMP maintains a research library of thousands of books, reports, documents, papers, and audio-visual media related to maritime history and archaeology. The main body of this collection was donated in October 2007 by retired professor George R. Fischer, founder of the National Park Service's underwater archaeology program who taught at Florida State University for thirty years and who directed the first archaeological research in St. Augustine waters. This valuable collection includes many rare works now out of print and also the early records of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, founded in 1973. The library is currently being catalogued and will eventually be available to scholars, students, and interested members of the public.

LAMP Volunteer Program

LAMP maintains a very active network of volunteers, who assist in a wide range of activities including fieldwork, scientific diving, boatbuilding, artifact conservation, archaeological illustration, GIS, laboratory analysis, equipment maintenance, historical research, database management, and a variety of other tasks. Before 2006 LAMP made little use of volunteers but in that year we started an initiative to involve avocationals in as many aspects of our work as possible. From the start of 2007 to the end of 2009 well over 100 volunteers have generated more than of 14,196.25 hours of service to LAMP's research and educational programs.

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