Jason Burns
Toni L. Carrell
Randel C. Davis
Peggy Lehsikar-Denton
Neal V. Hitch
James William Hunter, III
Donald H. Keith
Michael Krivor
Search for Trouvadore 2008 science team. Click image for larger view and image credit.
The Search for Trouvadore 2008: Explorers
Jason Burns, M.A.
Marine Archaeology Project Manager and Principal Investigatgor, SEARCH Inc.
Remote Sensing Specialist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye Expedition
Jason Burns is a project archaeologist and remote sensing specialist for the 2008 expedition. Mr. Burns also participated in the 2004 and 2006 Search for Trouvadore expeditions. Burns is a maritime archaeologist for Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH) in Gainesville, Florida. Prior to SEARCH, Burns served as the first underwater archaeologist hired by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). He created a statewide program for underwater archaeology and was promoted to the position of Deputy State Archaeologist - Underwater. Proficient in all aspects of maritime archaeology, Burns’ professional work has focused on submerged cultural resources management and public education, while his personal research focuses on 19th century merchant fleets and their transition from sail to steam and the expansion of world commerce by shipping nations after 1850. This research is detailed in his 2003 book, The Life and Times of a Merchant Sailor: The Archaeology and History of the Norwegian Ship Catharine.
Toni L. Carrell, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye
Randel C. Davis, D.O.
Archaeologist and Project Diving Physician, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye Expedition
Dr. Davis received his M.A. in underwater archeology in 1978. He has participated in numerous projects including the Padre Island Project, a 1554 Spanish shipwreck under the auspices of the Texas Antiquities Committee-1972; the Mombasa project, a 17th Century Portuguese frigate with the National Museums of Kenya-1978; a 1577 shipwreck in collaboration with the Bermuda Maritime Museum-1989; the Gallega project, a search for a Columbus vessel in association with Ships of Discovery and the Panamanian National Museum-1990 and 1992; The Nina project a caravel reconstruction with Ships of Discovery, Valenca, Brazil-1991; the Endymion site survey with Ships of Discovery and the Turks & Caicos National Museum; and lastly the Trouvadore Project in 2004 and 2006. He is also the Trouvadore project diving physician, certified by NOAA in hyperbaric medicine. His normal practice, however, is Emergency medicine and Tactical medicine in Phoenix, Arizona.
Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton, PhD, RPA
Archaeologist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the U.S. Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye
Peggy Leshikar-Denton is a maritime archaeologist for the 2008 expedition. She has worked in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Spain, and Turkey. Her focus is on seafaring, ships, and shipwrecks in the Caribbean, including the 1794 loss of HMS Convert and her convoy. In 1990-2006, she worked with the Cayman Islands National Museum, conducting research, creating exhibitions, enlarging a shipwreck register, launching a maritime trail, identifying shipwrecks to become preserves, and advocating legislation. Leshikar-Denton is currently working toward the creation of a dedicated maritime archaeology program in the Cayman Islands. Chair of the Society for Historical Archaeology UNESCO Committee, and a research associate with INA, Dr. Leshikar-Denton also serves on the ICOMOS International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage, and the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (board 1993-2004; current associate). She served on the ICOMOS delegation during development of the UNESCO Convention (2001), and assists ICOMOS and UNESCO in advocacy for its ratification. She has written extensively on the protection and management of underwater cultural heritage in the Caribbean.
Neal V. Hitch, PhD
Director, Turks and Caicos National Museum
Neal Hitch is a historian, preservation architect, and a museum specialist, holding a Master's degree in Architecture and a PhD in History. He specializes in 19th century life, culture, and architecture. From 1997 until summer 2007 he worked for the Ohio Historical Society, a non-profit corporation providing historical services for the State of Ohio. He is a historic housing specialist and has worked on some of the Society's premier restoration projects. Dr. Hitch is widely published and was awarded the 2002 Anne de Fort-Menares Award by the Association for Preservation Technology International for his scholarly works on OHS restoration Projects. In September 2007, Dr. Neal V. Hitch became the new museum director. His well-attended lectures have continued to bring the story of Trouvadore to the public and school groups throughout the islands.
James William Hunter, III, M.A.
Archaeologist, Search for Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye Expedition
James Hunter participated in both the 2004 and 2006 expeditions and is currently a Ph.D. student in maritime archaeology at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. He has participated in the survey and excavation of a variety of shipwrecks from the sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While employed by the U.S. Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, Hunter helped organize archaeological investigations of submerged sites associated with the Penobscot Expedition of 1779, as well as a 2004 remote-sensing survey to locate and identify the remains of the anti-piracy and anti-slavery schooner USS Alligator (1821). He is a former member of the archaeological team investigating the submarine H.L. Hunley. His general research interests include the archaeology of North American and circum-Caribbean colonial sites, with particular emphasis on the evolution of Spanish hull design in the New World between 1500 and 1850.
Donald H. Keith, PhD
Ships of Discovery,
Chief Scientist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkahye Expedition
Donald Keith is the Chief Scientist and Principal Investigator of the 2008 Expedition. He also directed the 2004 and 2006 expeditions. Dr. Keith has been the president of Ships of Discovery since its inception in 1989. A diver since 1969, he has directed field research from the Bahamas to Panama and has participated in shipwreck investigations in more than a dozen foreign countries. From 1980-1988 he directed the excavation, analysis and conservation of the Molasses Reef wreck, the oldest shipwreck found in the Americas. The need for a space to house the conserved artifacts was instrumental in the establishment of the Turks & Caicos National Museum in 1991. The Molasses Reef Wreck is the museum’s central exhibit. The discovery of archival documents by the museum’s founder Mrs. Grethe Seim, led Dr. Keith to spearhead the multi-year and multi-national research effort for the slave ship Trouvadore. A well-known author and speaker, Dr. Keith has written numerous articles for the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the Journal of Field Archaeology, Archaeology Magazine, Historical Archaeology, The Astrolabe, Journal of the Ordnance Society, and National Geographic Research among others. Dr. Keith is also a Trustee of the Turks & Caicos National Museum.
Michael Krivor, M.A.
Marine Archaeology, Project Manager and Principal Investigator, SEARCH Inc.
Remote Sensing Specialist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore and the US Navy Ships Chippewa and Onkanye Expedition
Michael Krivor is a project archaeologist and remote sensing specialist for the 2008 expedition. He also participated in the 2006 Search for Trouvadore expedition. Mr. Krivor is a maritime archaeologist for Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH) in Gainesville, Florida. Krivor’s academic and personal research has focused on shipwreck investigations along the east coast of the United States, Bermuda, and the Dominican Republic, and his thesis centered on the investigation of an 18th century British Transport that foundered off Bermuda during the American Revolution. In 1996, Mr. Krivor began professional work as a maritime archaeologist, and has served on over 90 submerged cultural resource management projects, authored over 60 reports, and presented over 14 professional papers. Proficient in all aspects of maritime archaeology, Mr. Krivor specialties include 17th-18th century New World ship construction, Western River steamboat construction, Civil War wreck sites, and small vernacular craft construction. He also has years of experience in remote sensing survey, data analysis, and archaeological site layout, scale mapping, and measures sketching and photography.
