Dr Max MacDonald

Research Interests:

Maritime and Coastal Communities, Aegean Prehistory, Prehistoric seafaring, seafarers, and harbours, the human relationship with the sea.

Geographical Area:

the Mediterranean, Greece, Italy

I am a maritime archaeologist (PhD Archaeology 2024, University of Southampton) specialising in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Mediterranean. My research has previously focused on the maritime cultural landscape of the Mycenaean region of Messenia in Southwestern Greece. Using maritime material culture, Prehistoric harbours and anchorages, and viewshed analysis, I highlighted the practical and emotional role of the sea in ancient lifeways. Now, with the Practical Mariner Project, I am expanding that interest to include the entire Mediterranean during the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

I am an experienced field archaeologist and have excavated in Greece, Italy, Spain, England, and Scotland, both on land and underwater.