For me, archaeology is about storytelling, and it is a particular privilege to introduce myself as the new president of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in a magazine so full of compelling human stories. As a maritime archaeologist,, I specialize in the Mediterranean, exploring the sea and learning from the objects left by people who crossed it. While conducting underwater excavations and surveys of shipwrecks and harbors off the coasts of Turkey and Italy, I have wondered at a bronze trident used by hungry sailors to catch fresh food on a long voyage. I have held a broken wooden lice comb tossed overboard in disgust and pieced together fragments of a black-glazed cup that was so valuable to the ship’s captain that it was mended in multiple places with lead staples. These simple objects bring past worlds alive, and they amplify the voices of those whose stories might not otherwise be told. And they also remind us of the people, past and present, who cross the sea in ships, driven by adventure, displacement, opportunity, or need.
