Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann, International Expert in Marine Archaeology, Lectures to Capacity Crowd in New Hampshire for John Rouman Classical Lecture Series

Distinguished guests host Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann in Durham, New Hampshire: (left to right) Mr. Christos Papoutsy; Dr. Marilyn Hoskin, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire; Mrs. Mary Papoutsy; Dr. John C. Rouman; Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann; Prof. Nina Gatzoulis, University of New Hampshire; Mr. Dino Siotis, Director of the Press Office for the Consulate General of Greece in Boston and Editor of MondoGreco.

Durham and Portsmouth, NH -- Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann delivered the fourth lecture in the successful John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series to a standing-room-only crowd in at the Durham campus of the University of New Hampshire on October 17, 2001. Featured by National Geographic for her pioneering efforts in the use of state-of-the-art technology for marine archaeology, this world-class expert thrilled an appreciative audience with images of her underwater expeditions and the cutting-edge robotics that helped with these discoveries. Titled "Roman Shipwrecks from the Wine-Dark Sea," her talk covered expeditions for artifacts from sites off Italian and Israeli coasts. According to McCann, these recent discoveries have caused scholars to revise their theories about ancient exports and maritime trade routes. Information gleaned from these wrecks is important, she revealed, because the depth of the finds has prevented looters from reaching them. Consequently, scholars have a better understanding of the types of cargoes carried by ancient merchant ships and the origins of their exports.

Dr. McCann is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Boston University, a Research Associate at the Institute for Exploration at Mystic, CT, and the Archaeological Director for the Mediterranean Skerki Bank Deep Sea Project in collaboration with Robert D. Ballard of the Institute for

Members of the Advisory Board of the John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series at the University of New Hampshire welcome international expert Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann: (left to right, front row) Mrs. Mary Papoutsy; Dr. John C. Rouman; Dr. Anna Marguerite McCann; Dr. Marilyn Hoskin, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of New Hampshire; (second row) Dr. Richard Desrosiers, Dr. Stephen Brunet, University of New Hampshire; Dr. Ted Kirkpatrick, Interim Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Director of JusticeWorks at the University of New Hampshire; (back row) Dr. Richard Clairmont, University of New Hampshire; and Dr. J. C. Douglas Marshall of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.

Exploration. She was the Archaeological Director for the first JASON Project in 1989 that initiated the archaeological exploration of the deep sea floor with Turner Broadcasting and National Geographic. The JASON Project received the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award (1989) and the Computer World Smithsonian Award (1990).

Dr. McCann has received a plethora of other awards and distinctions, among them the Archaeology Institute of America's Gold Medal for 1998, prizes at The American Academy in Rome, the James R. Wiseman Award for outstanding archaeological publication (AIA), the Outstanding Book Award of the American Association of University Presses (1987), and the Children's Book Council Award (1990). She has authored a number of seminal essays and books, among them Roman Sarcophagi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa, The Lost Wreck of the Isis, and Deep Water Archaeology. At present, she is working on two texts, The Deep-Sea Skerki Bank Shipwrecks, and The History of Underwater Archaeology and Technology. Dr. McCann has participated in many scholarly conferences and lectured widely in the U.S. and abroad.

Download recent John Rouman Lectures

The Professor John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series at the University of New Hampshire was founded in 1997 by the Christos and Mary Papoutsy Charitable Foundation to promote and enhance awareness of the Classics both in New England and beyond. The endowment for the lecture series sponsors lectures by noted international experts, talks that are free and open to the public. Previous speakers for the series have been Drs. John Silber, Bernard Knox, and Brunilde Ridgway. Their lectures are available for viewing and downloading, free of charge, on the webpages of the John C. Rouman Classical Lecture Series in the Classical World section hosted by Hellenic Communication Service at http://www.HellenicComServe.com. Dr. Stanley Lombardo, the acclaimed translator of Homer's Odyssey, will be the next lecturer in the series, scheduled to appear at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 at the Strafford Room of the Memorial Union Building. For more information, contact the Classics Program at the University of New Hampshire in Durham (603-862-2077).