SJSU Assistant Professor Marco Maniketti wears diving gear to participate in dive excavations in Port Royal, Jamaica. Photo Credit: © Wall to Wall Media Ltd/ Marcy Cox.

Leading Caribbean archaeologist, Dr. Marco Meniketti, participated in dive excavations in Port Royal, Jamaica. Photo Credit: © Wall to Wall Media Ltd/ Marcy Cox.

By Sarah Kyo, Public Affairs Assistant

Port Royal, Jamaica, is not just a setting within the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. A 1692 earthquake devastated this real-life buccaneer haven, causing much of the city to sink to the bottom of the sea.

Assistant Professor Marco Meniketti traveled to this underwater site last fall for the National Geographic Channel’s Wicked Pirate City. (The series is airing now. Get scheduling information). Historical reenactments give viewers an idea of Port Royal’s heyday, while experts, including Meniketti, provide background information and context. A crew takes photos of the ruins from multiple angles, a process known as photogrammetry, to serve as the basis for a 3-D CGI model of the city.

“I was given a wonderful opportunity and tried to make the most of it,” Meniketti said. “What made it possible was the generosity of my colleagues in the anthropology department who covered my classes in my absence. I owe them.”

SJSU Today: How did you become associated with the National Geographic Channel?

Marco Meniketti: I was recruited by producers at Wall to Wall because I am an active Caribbean archaeologist and Master Diver. More importantly, I had dived on and excavated the site of Port Royal 25 years ago as a graduate student with the Institute for Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M. They had at first contacted INA and were referred to me by the former director of the Port Royal excavations.

SJSU: What was it like working on this documentary?

Meniketti: Working on the project was a wonderful but occasionally frustrating experience. It was thrilling having the opportunity to return to the site and work with the international team that was assembled, but the director had an agenda somewhat different from that of the scientists.

For instance, we were there to locate the site of the destroyed city, photograph the ruins and progress to the interpretation, whereas the director had to create drama and suspense of the type needed to keep a television audience watching the two-hour special. And she wanted spontaneity from us. So this often meant we were prevented from getting in the water when we were ready (and dive conditions were best), or not allowed to speak with one another unless a camera was rolling. I was brought to serve as a consultant, but gradually was written into the script as team leader. The director also manufactured some of the tension between the American and French crews.

SJSU: What was the most rewarding experience while working on the program?

Meniketti: For me the most rewarding aspects of the project have been the collaboration with the French photogrammetry team and learning how the documentary process works. I spent much of my limited free time with the film crews discussing their various projects with the History Channel, Discovery Channel, etc.

SJSU:
How did your previous academic work lead up to this?

Meniketti:
My previous work has largely been in the Caribbean. I learned underwater archeology at Port Royal as I mentioned before as a graduate student. I returned to Jamaica the following year on the north coast as part of a team looking for the last ships of Columbus, wrecked in St. Ann’s Bay. I later assisted with a project on the Cayman Islands.  I began to conduct intensive research into the Caribbean plantation and slavery systems in 1996 and have established a field school on the island of Nevis in association with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society.

This year we will work collaboratively with students from Texas A&M to document the wreck site of a British warship sunk during the battle of Frigate Bay in 1782 off the neighboring island of Saint Kitts. My dissertation research was on the colonial sugar industry and the rise of capitalism, so my academic background has served me well. The producers wanted to frame the program in the rise of the plantation system and the conflict that arose historically between privateers and planters so my research was what they had in mind.

SJSU: What are your plans? Any future projects or research?

Meniketti: My future plans are to direct the SJSU archaeological field school on Nevis this summer, for our fourth season, and to pilot an underwater “field school” with four students who have trained this year to get AAUS certification. Next year, I intend to develop a field school closer to home in association with California State Parks. I am also working with two SJSU students on the California Historic Maritime Community Heritage Project, which is an outgrowth of a Junior Faculty Research Grant I received a couple years ago. From this, I hope to create a solid footing for maritime archaeology at SJSU.