THE COROLLA WRECK EXPOSED : HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF NORTH CAROLINA'S OLDEST SHIP

Abstract

Because of the unexpected and spontaneous discovery of the Corolla Wreck in 2008, its relocation in 2009, and its dynamic six-month jaunt up and down the coast, all research questions posed by this thesis were formed in reaction to the wreck and what little information was available in the summer of 2010. Unaware of the extent or provenience of recovered material culture, the author set about utilizing the most relevant (mega) artifact at hand: the structural remains. Research questions seek to reveal the philosophical construction origin, function, and role of the ship these wreck remains represent, as well as what part the vessel played in the system of European-Atlantic commercial and territorial expansion (the systemic context). Identifying the ship is impossible, structural features and material culture, however, suggest three possible candidates for nations of origin: English, Dutch, or French. This required a survey of these nations' collective commercial and territorial expansion into North America in the 17th century. Alongside historical research on trade and settlement patterns by the leading colonial powers of the 17th century, research into 16th- and 17th-century ship construction treatises sought to elucidate contemporary historical sources that may reveal information regarding structurally specific cultural information locked in the mega-artifact that is the shipwreck. To compliment historical research of both the colonial systemic context and historical documents on shape, form, and function for the wrecked vessel, a survey of 25 historic European shipwrecks dating from the 16th and 17th centuries provides the archaeological context for Wreck CKB0022. Material culture and structural features of the wreck provide the most definitive archaeological evidence for the vessel's origin, function, and role at the time of its wrecking event.