Virginia Maritime Heritage Update/ CSS RICHMOND
Over the past three years Michael Nusbaum and his colleagues
have been working with Department of Historic Resources, Department of Game and
Inland Fisheries, associates of VCU, as well as NOAA to document the remains of
the Confederate warship CSS Richmond
and associated sites. This blog post is
to clarify to my international colleagues this project, which has been somewhat
closed to the media and the general archaeological community. The project is well planned and Michael
Nusbaum (a passionate avocational) has
gone to a great length to construct a valid research objective in recording
these sites, their current state of preservation, and help Department of
Historic Resources develop a management plan.
Department of Historic Resources state conservator Katherine Ridgway has
taken into her possession new and used equipment from the Mariners’ Museum in
Newport News to aid in the conservation of any recovered material. While the release of information and data has
been small we all await the publication of the site drawings, photographs of
conserved recovered materials, and final field recording publication. All maritime archaeologists in Virginia hope
that this project will usher in a revival, one which has been much awaited
since 1989, of Virginia’s establishment of sustainable long term infrastructure
to replace the sporadic and disparate recording standards of the past 25 years
in regard to our shared submerged cultural heritage. We
hope that this will inspire not only those scholars imbued with a fascination
with the lost cause of the greycoats, but those who love any and all forms of
maritime culture in Virginia.
For more official information you can direct your questions
to Dr. Mike Barber, State Archaeologist of Virginia. Mike.Barber@dhr.virginia.gov
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