A global approach to better understanding piracy through archaeology Featuring discussions of newly discovered evidence from South America, England, New England, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, the Caribbean Sea, and the Indian Ocean, Dead Man’s Chest presents diverse approaches to better understanding piracy through archaeological investigations, landscape studies, material culture analyses, and documentary and cartographic evidence. The case studies in this volume include medieval and post-medieval piracy in the Bristol Channel, illicit trade in seventeenth-century fishing stations in Maine, and the guerrilla tactics of nineteenth-century privateers and coastal bandits off the Gulf of Mexico Coast. Contributors reveal the story of a Dutch privateer who saved a ship from a storm only to take control of it, partnerships between pirates and Indigenous inhabitants along the Miskito coast, and new findings on the Speaker—one of the first pirate ships to be archaeologically investigated—in Madagascar. As well as covering shipwrecks and other topics traditionally associated with piracy, several chapters look at pirate facilities on land and cultural interactions with nearby communities as reflected through archival documentation. As a whole, the volume highlights various ways to identify piracy and smuggling in the archaeological record, while encouraging readers to question what they think they know about pirates. Contributors: Dr. Charles R. Ewen | Russell K. Skowronek | Yann von Arnim | Martijn van den Bel | Patrick J. Boyle | John de Bry | Alexandre Coulaud | Jessie Cragg | Lynn B. Harris | Geraldo J. S. Hostin | Coy Jacob Idol | Kimberly P. Kenyon | Patrick Lizé | Laurent Pavlidis| Jason T. Raupp | Bradley Rodgers | Nathalie Sellier-Ségard | Jean Soulat | Katherine D. Thomas | Michael Thomin | Megan Rhodes Victor | Kenneth S. Wild

This collection piques the imagination with historical evidence about the actual exploits of pirates as revealed in the archaeological record. The recent discovery of the wreck of Blackbeard's "Queen Anne's Revenge," off Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, has provoked scientists to ask, What is a pirate? Were pirates sea-going terrorists, lawless rogues who plundered, smuggled, and illegally transported slaves, or legitimate corsairs and privateers? Highlighting such pirate vessels as the "Speaker," which sailed in the Indian Ocean, and the "Whydah," the first pirate ship discovered in North America (near the tip of Cape Cod), the contributors analyze what constitutes a pirate ship and how it is different from a contemporary merchant or naval vessel. Examining excavated underwater "treasure sites" and terrestrial pirate lairs found off the coast of Madagascar, throughout the Caribbean, and within the United States, the authors explore the romanticized "Golden Age of Piracy," a period brimming with the real-life exploits of Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and the "gentleman pirate" Jean Lafitte. This book will appeal to the general public, with special interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and divers.

How can you ensure that you are learning everything your artifacts have to teach you? Charles Ewen explores a variety of methods and techniques used to prepare, protect, and analyze artifacts once they are in the lab. In brief, user-friendly sections, he outlines the basic principles of identification, classification, quantification, data manipulation, and analysis. Students will find that Ewen's suggestions point out fruitful areas of analysis, yet do not dictate the researcher's approach. Examples drawn from 16th century Spanish sites in the Americas introduce students to the hows and whys of archaeological lab work.