Nathan Richards
Professor & Director of Maritime Studies
Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Ph.D., Flinders University (Archaeology)
BA (Hons.), Flinders University (Archaeology)
BA, Flinders University (Philosophy, Visual Arts & Archaeology)
Office: Eller House 100
Email: [email protected]
Phone: Eller: 252-328-1968
Fax: 252-328-6754
Dr. Richards specializes in maritime archaeological theory and method with a focus on cultural site formation processes of the archaeological record. He has an interest 19th and 20th century maritime history, the history of technology, and in comparative and anthropological approaches to maritime archaeological subjects. He has been involved in field schools run by Departments of Archaeology at Flinders University (South Australia), and James Cook University (Queensland), and has been employed in cultural heritage management work by the State Governments of South Australia and Tasmania. His research has appeared in the Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, The Great Circle (the journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History), the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the Bermuda Journal of Maritime History and Archaeology, and Historical Archaeology as well as other journal articles, book chapters, and numerous reports and reviews. He is co-author (with Robyn Hartell) of The Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail (Government of South Australia, 2001), author of Ships’ Graveyards: Abandoned Watercraft and the Archaeological Formation Process (University Press of Florida, 2008), and co-editor of The Archaeology of Watercraft Abandonment (with Sami Seeb, Springer Press, 2013). Dr. Richards is an active member of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (serving on their editorial board, and their newsletter editor 2001-2006) and the Australian Association for Maritime History. He is a former Associate Editor for the journal Historical Archaeology, and currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
Richards served as the Program Head for the UNC Coastal Studies Institute’s Maritime Heritage Program while a joint appointment with ECU’s Department of History from 2011-2018. Dr. Richards assumed the role of Director of the Program in Maritime Studies (Department of History) at East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) in 2018. He has taught classes in the history, theory, method, and ethics of maritime archaeology, field schools, and cultural heritage management at ECU since 2003.
Supervisors: Mark Staniforth
Address: Greenville, North Carolina
Program in Maritime Studies, Department of History
East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Ph.D., Flinders University (Archaeology)
BA (Hons.), Flinders University (Archaeology)
BA, Flinders University (Philosophy, Visual Arts & Archaeology)
Office: Eller House 100
Email: [email protected]
Phone: Eller: 252-328-1968
Fax: 252-328-6754
Dr. Richards specializes in maritime archaeological theory and method with a focus on cultural site formation processes of the archaeological record. He has an interest 19th and 20th century maritime history, the history of technology, and in comparative and anthropological approaches to maritime archaeological subjects. He has been involved in field schools run by Departments of Archaeology at Flinders University (South Australia), and James Cook University (Queensland), and has been employed in cultural heritage management work by the State Governments of South Australia and Tasmania. His research has appeared in the Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, The Great Circle (the journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History), the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the Bermuda Journal of Maritime History and Archaeology, and Historical Archaeology as well as other journal articles, book chapters, and numerous reports and reviews. He is co-author (with Robyn Hartell) of The Garden Island Ships’ Graveyard Maritime Heritage Trail (Government of South Australia, 2001), author of Ships’ Graveyards: Abandoned Watercraft and the Archaeological Formation Process (University Press of Florida, 2008), and co-editor of The Archaeology of Watercraft Abandonment (with Sami Seeb, Springer Press, 2013). Dr. Richards is an active member of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (serving on their editorial board, and their newsletter editor 2001-2006) and the Australian Association for Maritime History. He is a former Associate Editor for the journal Historical Archaeology, and currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Maritime Archaeology.
Richards served as the Program Head for the UNC Coastal Studies Institute’s Maritime Heritage Program while a joint appointment with ECU’s Department of History from 2011-2018. Dr. Richards assumed the role of Director of the Program in Maritime Studies (Department of History) at East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) in 2018. He has taught classes in the history, theory, method, and ethics of maritime archaeology, field schools, and cultural heritage management at ECU since 2003.
Supervisors: Mark Staniforth
Address: Greenville, North Carolina
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Books by Nathan Richards
In contrast with much of the theoretical or case-specific literature on the theme of watercraft discard, this volume communicates to the reader the common heritage and global themes that ship graveyard sites represent. It serves as an illustration of how the remains of abandoned vessels in ship graveyards are sites of considerable research value. Moreover, the case studies in this volume assist researchers in understanding the evolution of maritime technologies, economies, and societies. The Archaeology of Watercraft Abandonment is intended to expose research potential, create discussion, and reinforce the significance of a prevalent cultural resource that is often overlooked.
Ships' Graveyards is an explicitly theoretical study that avoids the single-site bias prevalent in most underwater archaeology research. It also eschews the traditional examination of shipwreck sites as the core component of study in this field.
Instead, Nathan Richards seeks to discover what we can learn by examining intentionally abandoned vessels and to determine what the differences are between cultural site formation processes and those created "naturally" (that is, by shipwrecks and other nautical disasters).
Using Australian waters as a case study, Richards examines over 1,500 vessels abandoned over a period of more than 200 years. In offering such a detailed focus on an underutilized archaeological resource, he provides a model for the examination of similar sites and processes in many other locations around the world.
Theses & Dissertations by Nathan Richards
Chapters by Nathan Richards
Papers by Nathan Richards
In contrast with much of the theoretical or case-specific literature on the theme of watercraft discard, this volume communicates to the reader the common heritage and global themes that ship graveyard sites represent. It serves as an illustration of how the remains of abandoned vessels in ship graveyards are sites of considerable research value. Moreover, the case studies in this volume assist researchers in understanding the evolution of maritime technologies, economies, and societies. The Archaeology of Watercraft Abandonment is intended to expose research potential, create discussion, and reinforce the significance of a prevalent cultural resource that is often overlooked.
Ships' Graveyards is an explicitly theoretical study that avoids the single-site bias prevalent in most underwater archaeology research. It also eschews the traditional examination of shipwreck sites as the core component of study in this field.
Instead, Nathan Richards seeks to discover what we can learn by examining intentionally abandoned vessels and to determine what the differences are between cultural site formation processes and those created "naturally" (that is, by shipwrecks and other nautical disasters).
Using Australian waters as a case study, Richards examines over 1,500 vessels abandoned over a period of more than 200 years. In offering such a detailed focus on an underutilized archaeological resource, he provides a model for the examination of similar sites and processes in many other locations around the world.
Hence, the vessels still found in the area also represent an opportunity to examine the social and economic meaning of Bermuda to visiting ships. In 2008, staff and students from East Carolina University documented an assemblage of ships lying at Meyer’s Wharf in Convict Bay. This paper attempts to compile a more complete inventory of the fleet of significant ships in a portion of St. George’s in order to move towards a better understanding of the extent of ship-breaking activities in Bermuda.
In the fall of 2011, students and personnel affiliated with the Program in Maritime Studies (East Carolina University) and the UNC-Coastal Studies Institute, with the assistance of the organizations and individuals associated with the town of Columbia, and Tyrrell County commenced the process of collating a submerged cultural resources inventory of the Scuppernong River and adjacent Bull Bay.
While the process of documenting the maritime archaeological resources of the area is ongoing, this report contains the results of remote sensing surveys (side scan sonar and magnetometry) of a portion of the the bottomlands of these bodies of water.
This volume contains six chapters that serve as the technical reports concerning these six vessels. Each chapter reports the process of recording the boats and their histories and also engages in interpretation and analysis of the form, function, and methods of construction. In some cases, examinations of modifications, repairs, and wear and tear are also made. The publication intends to communicate the results of maritime-focused
historic preservation activities concerning a small part of Currituck County’s legacy of boat-building.