Intellectual content
Howard Zinn that once said that if we did not know our history we would have to trust
our politicians. Archaeology is the study of human cultures through their material remains and environmental data,
and a good complement to history. Historians try to understand what happened long ago from what people say happened.
And it is easy to imagine how sometimes witnesses were too close to the events to be able to convey a fair account.
Other times, often times, there are plenty of incentives not to write the truth as we know it. Winston Churchill
said that history is written by the victors. Most people prefer not to leave behind full accounts of embarrassing
stories and situations for posterity.
This course is an overview of the history of North America seen through its watercraft. It
is impossible to imagine the history of the United States without ships and boats, from Columbus' caravels and
'naos' to the Mayflower, four or five generations later,
or the merchantmen that supplied the thirteen colonies, the warships that won the Revolutionary War and the War
of 1812, the magnificent ships of the Golden Age of Sail, or the ships, boats, and submarines of the Civil War.
The course is divided into two sections. The first five lectures are an introduction to nautical
archaeology, explaining basic concepts and introducing some vocabulary. The last two lectures of this section entail
a discussion of the importance of nautical and underwater cultural heritage, the problems of its conservation and
study, and the differences between archaeologists and treasure hunters. The second section consists of an overview
of the watercraft used in the North American continent upon Christopher Columbus's arrival, the ships and boats
brought by the Europeans, and their development from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Since ANTH318 is an elective course I expect all students to enjoy it, come to class, participate,
and take the opportunity to learn and think for pure pleasure.
I do not believe any students will die poor and lonely if they do not master the contents
of my ANTH318 - Nautical Archaeology of the Americas. However, the course is an opportunity to make cross-curricular
connections among many educational disciplines.
My main goal in class is to emphasize Bertrand Russell's idea that "what is wanted is
not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite."
The study of the past is always tainted with our particular beliefs on the subject under
analysis. Independent, logical reasoning is our only hope to form a fair idea about things that happened long ago.
Syllabus