The Maritime Legacy Project
Who we are
The Maritime Legacy Project uses modern techniques of geo-archaeology to recreate prehistoric maritime landscapes, combining cultural ecology, history, and archaeology to reimagine future stewardship. We began this project as a template to combine the skills of archaeologists, geologists, engineers, historians, and non-profits to study, document, and reinterpret shipwreck and terrestrial sites. As tourism, development, and climate change cause dramatic new physical changes in essential areas of maritime activity on all coasts of Jamaica, we hope to continue to broaden our understanding and create a method of cultural survey we can use in other countries and geographic areas that is both inclusive, cohesive, and respectful.
What we do
The Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica was created by Andrew Van Slyke, MA, Dr. Marianne Franklin, and Dorrick Gray, MA, and ABD PhD, and was initially proposed as a maritime survey to the Jamaican National Heritage Trust (JNHT) to search for Columbus' Caravels in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica. This effort to locate the wrecks began the project's first phase, where we scouted the site, visited local archives and assembled maps, charts, and notes from across the globe.
Follow our Project
We are experts in our field and are passionate about what we do. We go above and beyond to bring you the most unique and inclusive histories nearly lost to time. With our podcast, you can stay up-to-date on the latest happening with our project, while also learning something new.
The Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Andrew J. Van Slyke received a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master’s Degree in Anthropology specializing in Historical Archaeology from the University of West Florida. He is an underwater archaeologist with the National Park Service (NPS) Submerged Resources Center (SRC). Andrew has led submerged pre-contact and historical archaeological investigations in the continental United States and the Caribbean. He specializes in maritime cultural landscape theory, remote sensing surveys, and the earliest shipwrecks in the western hemisphere. He is a Co-Founder of the Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica, where he assists the Jamaica National Heritage Trust in searching for Columbus’ last caravels in St. Ann’s Bay.
Marianne Franklin, PhD
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Dr. Marianne Franklin, a Nautical Archaeologist, worked for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, in 1990 and 1991 and was the Field Director during the 1992 Columbus Caravels Archaeological Project (CCAP) field season led by James Parrent. For her master's degree at Texas A&M University, Dr. Franklin studied Port Royal’s 1692 sunken city. After the Columbus searches in the early 1990s, she earned her Ph.D. on 18th-century British vessels in St. Augustine, Florida.
Dorrick Gray OD, MA
Andrew J. Van Slyke, MA
Dorrick Gray OD, MA
Dorrick Gray, OD (M.A. and A.B.D. at Syracuse University), the pensioned Director of Archaeology and Executive Director of the Jamaican National Heritage Trust, complements our team. Gray served as JNHT's consultant to facilitate Port Royal's 1692 Sunken City becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gray was bestowed with the National Honor of The Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer in 2020 for "outstanding service to the development of Marine and Terrestrial Archaeology and contribution to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust."
Morgan Smith, PhD
Morgan Smith, PhD
Dorrick Gray OD, MA
Dr. Morgan Smith, a geoarchaeologist, Legacy Team member, and associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, leads this geoarchaeological investigation at St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. Dr. Morgan Smith is an accomplished expert in remote-sensing methods to locate underwater pre-contact archaeological sites. Dr. Smith was advised in his Ph.D. study by Dr. Michael Waters at Texas A&M University. This mentorship is important because Dr. Waters conducted the first 1990 TAMU geoarchaeological survey for the 1503 Columbus shoreline in Seville Heritage Park.
Ryan Fochs, MA
Morgan Smith, PhD
Ryan Fochs, MA
Ryan Fochs, MA has conducted research initiatives throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, Central America, Europe, as well as the United States. Engaged in both conservation biology and archaeology, Ryan's focus in marine and aerial archaeology is passion, tackling questions of natural history, material culture, and how the preservation and conservation of those realities is met in the conflict of the contemporary world.
The Maritime Legacy Project : Jamaica Podcast Series
AJV Archaeology No. 022 - LEGACY Pt. III- The Search for the Santa Gloria Caravels
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
This is the third episode of the “LEGACY” series and is brought to you by Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica. The Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica is a geoarchaeological initiative to Search for Columbus’s last shipwrecks in Jamaica, which are the maritime component of the Taíno-Spanish Encounter of 1503. Host and Archaeologist Andrew J. Van Slyke reads a paper co-authored with Dr. Marianne Franklin that they presented to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (in April 2022) and to the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference (in January 2023). In the coming months, the LEGACY series will interview the co-founders of the Maritime Legacy Project, Dr. Mare Everett Franklin, and Dorrick Gray, as well as others who have searched for the Caravels or joined our team, such as Dr. Morgan Smith, Shawn Joy, Gabrielle Miller, Chris Horrell, and Dr. Charles Bendig. Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy podcasts. To listen on the web, visit www.ajvarchaeology.org
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
This is the second episode of the “LEGACY” series and is brought to you by Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica. The Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica is a geoarchaeological initiative to Search for Columbus’s last shipwrecks in Jamaica which are the maritime component of the Taíno-Spanish Encounter of 1503. Host and Archaeologist Aj Van Slyke speaks on his start in the field, how his University of West Florida professors (Dr. Gregory Cook and Dr. Della Scott-Ireton of Florida Public Archaeology Network - Northwest Region), shipwrecks, and Jamaica’s maritime legacy shaped his experience. In the coming months, the LEGACY series will interview the co-founders of the Maritime Legacy Project, Mare Everett Franklin, and Dorrick Gray, as well as others who have searched for the Caravels or joined our team, such as Morgan Smith, Shawn Joy, Gabrielle Miller, and Chris Horrell. Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, or wherever you enjoy podcasts. To listen on the web, visit www.ajvarchaeology.org
AJV Archaeology No. 020 - LEGACY Pt. I - The First Americans and America's Columbus
AJV Archaeology No. 021 - LEGACY Pt. II- My Start in Archaeology and Jamaica’s Beckoning
AJV Archaeology No. 020 - LEGACY Pt. I - The First Americans and America's Columbus
This is the first episode of the “LEGACY” series and is brought to you by Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica. The Maritime Legacy Project is a geoarchaeological initiative to Search for Columbus’s last shipwrecks in Jamaica which are the maritime component of the Taíno-Spanish Encounter of 1503. Archaeologists Aj Van Slyke and Morgan Smith from the Maritime Legacy Project:Jamaica interview Jessi Halligan and talk about the pre-contact landscape of the Americas.In the coming months, the LEGACY series will interview the co-founders of the Maritime Legacy Project, Mare Everett Franklin and Dorrick Gray as well as others who have searched for the Caravels or join our team such as: Shawn Joy, Gabrielle Miller, and Chris Horrell.Dr. Jessi Halligan of the Florida State University and Dr. Morgan Smith of the University of Tennessee, Chatanooga, join the Podcast for an intriguing look at the archaeology of the First Americans. Recorded on Leif Erikson day (October 9, 2022) on the day before Indigenous People's Day/Columbus Day, this Podcast broadens the context about humanity's arrival to the Americas and the rise of Columbus as an American symbol. With the broaden context, Halligan and Smith discuss the earliest sites in the Americas, their study of those specific geoarchaeological sites, and how archaeology continues to refine our understanding of symbols of the past.Find the podcast wherever you enjoy podcasts or at www.ajvarchaeology.org