Shipwrecks of Lake Erie and Maritime Archaeology

Lake Erie contains approximately 1000 shipwrecks, of which almost 200 were lost in Pennsylvania waters. The Pennsylvania Archaeology Shipwreck Survey Team (PASST) is dedicated to researching these shipwrecks and telling their stories. This talk will use examples of shipwrecks recorded by PASST to introduce maritime archaeology and what it can tell us about Lake Erie seafaring.

PASST is a volunteer organization that uses the methods of maritime archaeology to record and interpret shipwrecks to better understand life on the Great Lakes and how ships changed through time to meet the environmental and economic demands of Great Lakes shipping. PASST is supported by the Erie Regional Science Center.

Ben Ford is the Chair of the Anthropology Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in maritime and historical archaeology. He recently published The Shore is a Bridge: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Lake Ontario and Our Blue Planet: An Introduction to Maritime and Underwater Archaeology (with Jessi Halligan and Alexis Catsambis). He has also edited the Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology, The Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, and New Life for Old Collections (with Rebecca Allen). Ben is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and the 2015 Archaeological Institute of America McCann-Taggart Underwater Archaeology Lecturer. His current research focuses on 18th-centruy connections across the Mid-Atlantic region and includes work at Historic Hanna’s Town, a Revolutionary War era town in Pennsylvania, and Fort Necessity National Battlefield, as well as underwater archaeology work in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.