Research Seminar in Deep Sea Archaeology
MIT's STS.467 looks at how archaeology is done thousands of feet underwater, where oceanography, robotics, and submarine engineering now let researchers locate, survey, and excavate shipwrecks that divers cannot reach. Seminar discussions work through how new sonar frequencies, higher-resolution imaging, and digital data output are reshaping research design and operations planning at sea. Two case-study regions anchor the course: the Aegean during Minoan times and western Sicily under Phoenician, Greek, and Roman control, using real excavation projects to test the methods being discussed. Materials include readings on the technical and intellectual history of the field, drawn from MIT's OpenCourseWare archive. The course treats deep-sea archaeology as a discipline still being invented, asking what tools and training the next generation of underwater excavation will actually require. No paid certificate is offered; materials are free to access and download.