Nautical Archaeology @ TAMU

The Nautical Archaeology Program (NAP) is a degree-granting program within the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

The Nautical Archaeology Program offers admission to students seeking graduate degrees in nautical archaeology. The primary focus is on training archaeologists to become divers, rather than teaching divers the principles of anthropology and archaeology. Students are also required to learn the principles of archaeological conservation, with primary emphasis on the treatment of waterlogged artifacts.

The Nautical Archaeology Program began after the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) became affiliated with Texas A&M University in 1976. As part of the affiliation, Texas A&M established the Nautical Archaeology Program as a separate entity. Since the first excavations INA carried out were in the Mediterranean, the main focus was initially on Old World nautical archaeology; after affiliating with the University, a New World archaeologist joined the staff, and work began in North America and Africa.[3] The establishment of a department dedicated to the discipline allowed nautical archaeology to develop into an important subfield of archaeology.

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