The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA) is a specialist research group within the School of Archaeology supported by the Hilti Foundation. It is devoted to the study of people who live or work on and around water.

The OCMA offers undergraduate and postgraduate options in maritime archaeology; post-graduate research ranges from the Mediterranean and its surrounding seas and oceans to the maritime cultures and peoples of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea from antiquity to the early modern period.

The Centre currently partners a number of fieldwork projects. In Egypt, the OCMA collaborates on projects implemented by the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM), under the direction of Franck Goddio supported by the Hilti Foundation. It also works in Libya.

The OCMA also promotes research through a vigorous programme of international conferences that bring together specialists in maritime cultures, as well as outreach events aimed at a more general audience. The Centre’s peer-reviewed monograph series is published in-house and distributed by Oxbow Books. The series includes excavation reports, specialist object analyses, and edited thematic volumes based upon OCMA conferences.

Research in the News

BBC Five live Breakfast 07/06/2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01b3hn5: Interview with Franck Goddio

Sunken city gives up its treasure: The ancient Egyptian metropolis lost for 1,200 years below the Mediterranean
Mail Online, 06/06/2013, James Rush

City lost for 1,200 years gives up its treasures
The Times, 06/06/2013, p.35, Sheera Frenkel

Sunken city yields its treasures
The Australian (via The Times), 06/06/2013, Sheera Frenkel

Archaeologists discover ancient Egypt’s watery grave
BBC History Magazine, June issue, David Keys

The secret world of a city lost beneath the waves
The Sunday Telegraph, 28/04/2013, p.27, Richard Gray

Heracleion: Mapped for the first time, the real-life Atlantis: 3D map shows how Egyptian trade centre buried for 1,200 years would have looked
Mail Online, 28/04/2013, Sara Malm

Other accounts of the work of IEASM and OCMA:

New Light Shed On Ancient Egyptian Port and Ship Graveyard
Science Daily: 7 April 2013

Research sheds light on ancient Egyptian port and ship graveyard
Past Horizons 26/03/2013

Teaching

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology offers post-graduate courses in maritime archaeology and provides post-graduate supervision within the School of Archaeology and the Faculty of Classics. Undergraduates are able to take an option in Mediterranean maritime archaeology.

Conferences

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology regularly organizes conferences exploring themes within maritime archaeology or relating to the fieldwork of the Centre and of the IEASM.

People

People involved with the Centre.

Contact

Contact details.

Publications

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology publishes a monograph series as part of the publication programme of the Institute of Archaeology. The OCMA oversees the scholarly publication of the fieldwork conducted by the IEASM in Alexandria and the submerged Canopic region, as well as post-excavation studies of the material culture recovered from these excavations by IEASM specialists and Hilti Foundation sponsored post-graduate students. The monograph series also includes works based upon OCMA’s conferences.

Fieldwork

The Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology has an expanding fieldwork programme, combining research with opportunities for students to gain experience in underwater survey and excavation. The OCMA is currently excavating a shipwreck in Aboukir Bay, Egypt, a collaborative venture with the IEASM. The centre also supports research into maritime facilities and the coastal economy in eastern Libya.