The 2020 recipient of the George Fischer International Student Travel Award is Ana Castelli from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ms. Catelli holds an BA in Anthropological Science from Buenos Aires University. She recently completed her MA in Nautical and Underwater Archaeology from the University of Cadiz, Spain. Ms. Catelli is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Archaeology at the University of Buenos Aires, under a grant from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Argentina).
Please join us in welcoming Ana and attending her paper entitled: The Shape of the Matagrana Shipwreck, an English Merchant Vessel from the Late 17th to early 18th Centuries.
Ana’s paper explores the remains of a wooden vessel’s hull that was uncovered in 2008 by receding coastal dunes in Huelva, Spain. The exposed structure lead to an emergency excavation by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage, directed by Nuria Rodriguez Mariscal. The architectural remains were disassembled, recorded in detail and reburied within a limited time. Further studies revealed the shipwreck was probably an English merchant ship from late 17th to mid-18th centuries. In 2018, the archaeological data was reinterpreted and digitally redrawn to produce a set of hull lines for the vessel, using historical sources of the period. Photogrammetric and scale models were generated, and documentation issues related to the short time span available for the original excavation were assessed and tackled. The result provided a more thorough understanding of the shape and function of the vessel and may help broaden the knowledge of its time and place of origin.