One of our former graduate students, Kyle Lent, recently published an article on his work with us in Flinders University’s magazine Engage, the July 2013 edition. Flinders University is located in South Australia and we have worked with their faculty and students many times before (see here, and here). Kyle served as a Field School Supervisor during the 2012 season, and worked as a volunteer archaeologist for many months after that, until he got a job with the archaeological consulting firm SEARCH. He is one of our many success stories!
The entire issue of Engage is available as a pdf, and you can read it here. Below is a snippet, but by all means check out the entire article!
The final months of the American Revolution (1775-1781), were an exceptionally perplexing
time for everyone involved. As British control over the colonies was diminishing, many
loyalists looked to the horizon to flee what would soon be a new rule. East Florida’s
inviting climate and its loyalty to the crown proved to be an enticing prospect. Based on
many archaeological assumptions, supported by an equal amount of archaeological
evidence, the Storm Wreck is, in all likeliness, an example of a colonial-era British loyalist
refugee ship which attempted to flee Charleston, South Carolina, and met its demise
while attempting to enter St Augustine at the end of, or shortly after, the Revolution.
230 years later, archaeologists cast off the dock lines of a former 36-foot steel hulled shrimping boat turned research vessel, set GPS navigation to the site coordinates, and put a fresh pot of coffee on the boil one early June morning. As the sun rises above the horizon, so the 2012 field season begins.