The Search for Trouvadore 2006: Explorers
Jason Burns, M.A.
Marine Archaeology Project Manager and Principal Investigator, SEARCH Inc.
Remote Sensing Specialist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore Expedition
Jason Burns is a project archaeologist and remote sensing specialist for the 2006 Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore Expedition. Mr. Burns also participated in the 2004 expedition. 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. 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
Randel C. Davis, D.O.
Archaeologist and Project Diving Physician
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 hyperbarics. His normal practice, however, is emergency medicine and tactical medicine in Phoenix, Arizona.
James William Hunter, III, M.A.
Archaeologist, H.L. Hunley Project
Archaeologist, Search for Slave Ship Trouvadore
James Hunter joined the effort to locate Trouvadore in 2004. He has participated in the survey and excavation of a variety of shipwrecks from the sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and is currently a member of the archaeological staff investigating the American Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley. While employed by the U.S. Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, James 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). Most recently, he was invited to serve as a team supervisor for a maritime archaeology field school hosted by Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. 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.
James has contributed written articles and archaeological illustrations to a number of historical and archaeological journals, and has authored or co-authored several archaeological reports. His archaeological illustrations have appeared in three books.
Donald H. Keith, PhD
Chief Scientist, Search for the Slave Ship Trouvadore Expedition
Donald Keith is the Chief Scientist and Principal Investigator of the 2006 Search for Trouvadore Expedition. He also directed the 2004 expedition. 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 Expedition
Michael Krivor is a project archaeologist and remote sensing specialist for the 2006 Search for the Slave Ship 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’s 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.
Nigel Sadler, MA
Historical Researcher
Director, Turks and Caicos National Museum
Nigel Sadler is a lead historical researcher for the Trouvadore Project. After working as a field archaeologist in the Middle East and England for four years he retrained in Museum Management, running several museums in London during the 1990s. He became Director of the Turks and Caicos National Museum in 2000. One of his main tasks at the Turks and Caicos National Museum has been to uncover the slave heritage of the country, initially as part of the UNESCO slave route project and then as part of the Trouvadore Project. This has led to presentations on the subject in conferences in Cuba, South Korea, USA and England as well as several publications. His specialist area of research is the illegal African slave trade after 1808 and Liberated Africans in the Caribbean. Since 2003 Nigel Sadler has also held the position of President of the Museums Association of the Caribbean.