SRC Project Display

Divers mapping Stanley wreck site, Isle Royale NP, MI

The USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

The coral reef environment at Biscayne NP, Florida

A green seaturtle off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii

Mexico - Bay of Campeche

Subdireccion de Arqueologia Subacuatica del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH)

One of the most important and comprehensive underwater archaeology projects that Mexico has undertaken, the Investigation of the 1630-1631 Fleet of New Spain seeks to better understand the maritime culture of New Spain.

An interdisciplinary effort, the project, begun in 1995, combines archival research with remote sensing technology to locate and document submerged cultural resources within Mexican waters. The SRC has provided survey assistance to INAH for almost a decade.

While the focus of the project is the 1630-1631 Fleet of New Spain, project research has assisted INAH with initiating a comprehensive database of submerged cultural resources in Mexico.

R/V Justo Sierra in Bay of Campeche, 1998

INAH Field Director Jorge Herrera during survey

Archival research has been a cornerstone of the Campeche project. Historical documents have allowed INAH archaeologists and historians to reconstruct the events and people involved in the fleet and its tragedy, as well as to establish the cultural context in which it operated. INAH has provided archival assistance to SRC for Spanish shipwreck research in US National Parks.

Interdisciplinary work and international cooperative relationships, such as the one between INAH and the National Park Services Submerged Resources Center, have contributed greatly to the projects success; promoting investigation, preservation and protection of the Mexican cultural patrimony.

1998-Present - NPS-SRC continues assisting INAH with remote sensing survey of the Bay of Campeche, Mexico. INAH personnel contribute to SRC projects both in the field and the archives.
1999 NPS-SRC assisted INAH in a survey off Veracruz, Mexico.