In 1956, Fred van Doorninck received a bachelor’s degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton. After a distinguished service in the U.S. Army, in 1960, Fred began Ph.D. studies in Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania.  Department Head Rodney S. Young suggested that he should join George Bass in excavating the 7th-century shipwreck at Yassıada, Turkey as a draftsman. This led to a lifelong close collaboration and friendship.  The excavation team developed new techniques for mapping hull remains on the bottom. Many of those methods, enhanced by digital technology, remain in practice today. In 1977, Fred van Doorninck became one of four foundational faculty members responsible for launching the NAP graduate program at Texas A&M University.

Based upon his knowledge of Greek and Greek epigraphy, van Doorninck was asked to make a final study of the amphoras from the seventh-century Yassıada Wreck and the eleventh-century Glass Wreck and the graffiti carved on them.  He creatively pioneered facets of that study that range from the metrology of the containers to the graffiti on them. Dr. van Doorninck’s rigorous and exhaustive analysis led to exciting information about ownership, reuse, and standardization of the amphoras. Over the course of a long, illustrious career, he has established ingenious sub-fields dedicated to studying the evolution of methods for building wooden ships to the evolution of iron anchors forged for use on those ships.

Fred’s affable genius had a profound effect on multiple generations of graduate students in the NAP, motivating them to mirror their master’s indefatigable commitment to highly detailed analysis and appropriate historical contextualization. Fred van Doorninck, now 92 and still publishing about amphora metrology, has always exercised his craft from the enriching perspectives of a true scholar with incomparable linguistic and historical skills.