Mark M. Newell

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Mark M. Newell, Ph.D. is a British/American underwater archaeologist, Director, Georgia Archaeological Institute, received his doctorate from St. Andrews University, Scotland. Newell began diving in Bermuda in 1963.[1] While working as a journalist, he continued to dive throughout the Caribbean and South America, developing an interest in the archaeological potential of the sites he discovered. In 1996 he completed a Ph.D. in underwater archaeology at the Scottish Institute of Maritime Studies at the University of St. Andrews.[2]


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[edit] River Craft

Since 1983 Newell has specialized in the recording of underwater sites and historic sea-going and river craft of the Southern United States. He built two full-sized reproductions of historic craft in South Carolina and Georgia, and developed the first typography of historic working craft of the waterways of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.


[edit] Proponent of Sport Diver Education

A former NASDS diving instructor, Newell was an early proponent of sport diver education, he was instrumental in initiating sport diver underwater archaeology courses at the University of South Carolina, developing the first course in 1983.


[edit] Wreck of the Dromedary

Newell and Advocational Marine Archaeologist, Chriss Addams, recovered artifacts from the anchorage of the Prison Hulk Dromedary. The Prison Hulk been moored in the Naval Dockyard of Bermuda's Ireland Island in the mid-nineteenth century. Their analysis of the artifacts has provided unique insights into the lifeways of the hulk crew and inmates, their subsistence patterns and their economic activities.[3]


[edit] Wreck of the Resurgam

Newell participated in St. Andrews University's identification of the Resurgam, the world's first practical powered submarine. The Resurgam was discovered off Rhyl, Northern Wales, in 1995.[4]


[edit] Wreck of the Hunley

Dr. Newell initiated and directed the joint 1994/95 SCIAA/NUMA Hunley Expedition that many credit with the discovery of the Hunley.[5] [6] [7]

Newell's Hunley expedition was funded by best selling novelist Clive Cussler,[8] who has claimed credit for the discovery. Newell, the project's official director,[9] now claims only verification of the wreck's identity and acknowledges E. Lee Spence's prior discovery[10] [11] [12] and further recognizes the many others who contributed to his project's ultimate success that concluded with the raising of the Hunley on August 8, 2000.[13]


[edit] Bibliography

"The Santee Canal Sanctuary," Part 1, edited by Joe J. Simmons and Mark M. Newell, 1989, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Columbia, South Carolina.

"What Really Happened to the CSS Hunley? Success and Tragedy in Maffitt's Channel" by Mark M. Newell, Alabama Heritage, Number 39, Winter 1996, p. 40

"Underwater Surveying" chapter of the "Archaeology Underwater The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice," published by the Nautical Archaeology Society.


[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ GAI & The Ocean Research Foundation
  2. ^ Instructor Courses for Archaeological Specialties
  3. ^ The Dromedary Hulk, Bermuda
  4. ^ The SubMap Project "Saving the World's First Submarine"
  5. ^ The official SCV Hunley Camp "Mission Accomplished"
  6. ^ 'Tasmanian Numismatist' newsletter, "Up from a briny grave: A pioneering Civil War submarine finally gets its due" by Lewis Lord
  7. ^ "Submarine CSS HL Hunley Found Intact"
  8. ^ Civil War Submarine Found, Charleston, SC, Reuter, May, 1995
  9. ^ "Third and Final Search for the Hunley," NUMA, June 1, 1995, by Clive Cussler
  10. ^ ZoomInfo "Dr. Mark M. Newell, Director, Georgia Archaeological Institute
  11. ^ Answers.com "E. Lee Spence"
  12. ^ Reference.com "Clive Cussler"
  13. ^ "The Hunley Newsletter," Saturday, June 03, 2006 7:29 AM