Robert Neyland
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Robert Neyland is the Head of the Underwater Archaeology Branch, Naval Historical Center, and Department of the Navy in Washington, D.C. and is the Project Director for the recovery of the confederate submarine H.L. Hunley. Robert joined the Naval Historical Center in 1994 to assist the U.S. Navy in developing policies for managing the Navy’s ship and aircraft wrecks. These date from the Revolutionary War to the present and are distributed worldwide. Specific research projects include the survey of an 18th century shipwreck in Key West, Florida, Revolutionary War wrecks in Maine, wrecks of the American Civil War period such as H.L. Hunley, wrecks from World War II D-Day landings in Normandy, military aircraft lost in Lake Michigan, and surveying for US Navy ships lost while on the anti-piracy and anti-slavery patrols. Robert was loaned from the Department of the Navy to the State of South Carolina for a period of 4 years to plan, recover, and excavate H.L. Hunley. The recovery of the submarine was a multi-million dollar project involving a diverse team of scientists, engineers, scientific and commercial divers, and many others. Robert continues to serve as Director for this project. Over the course of his career Robert has worked on a variety of shipwrecks, including a 1200 B.C. Bronze-age wreck off the coast of Turkey, the sunken city of 17th century Port Royal and searched for Columbus’s caravels in Jamaica, excavated late- and post-medieval wrecks in the Netherlands, and analyzed the earliest boat remains found in Maryland, which date to the late 17th century. Robert also served as chairman of the ACUA from 2002-2005. Why I got into underwater archaeology….. I developed an interest in archaeology well before I started school. I grew up with National Geographic magazine and of all the articles those with archaeology or paleontology were the ones that held my interest. At the Carnegie Library in the small East Texas town of Palestine, I checked and rechecked out the few books that had anything to do with archaeology…one in particular I remember was well illustrated on Egyptian archaeological sites and artifacts. At the same time, I also grew passionate about scuba diving and the marine world underwater. Lloyd Bridges and the Seahunt TV is in part responsible. I began diving in 1970. After several careers in professions other than archaeology, I went back to graduate school and received a Master’s and a Doctorate in Anthropology. About the Underwater Archaeology Branch, Naval Historical Center The Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch advises the Navy in matters related to historic preservation of U.S. Navy ship and aircraft wrecks. The Underwater Archaeology Branch oversees and coordinates this program that deals not only with archaeology and conservation, but many sensitive issues such as war graves, unexploded ordnance, potential use of recovered weapons systems, and complicated legal issues dealing with title and the illegal removal of property from wrecks. The UA Branch has administered Department of Defense funds that have inventoried US government owned shipwrecks, drafted management plans and agreements with various states in the US, and drafted a Navy permitting system for archaeological research and new legislation to protect US government shipwrecks. www.history.navy.mil The H.L. Hunley recovery was a partnership between the South Carolina Hunley Commission, the not for profit Friends of the Hunley created by the Commission, and the Department of the Navy. This partnership brought together state, private and federal entities to accomplish one of the most successful archaeological shipwreck recoveries to date. As part of this project, the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, a 39,000 sq ft building was renovated into a conservation laboratory/research center and temporary museum. H.L. Hunley was recovered in 2000, the interior excavated in 2001, and the eight man crew reburied in 2004. Archaeological analysis and conservation is ongoing and plans are underwater to build a maritime museum that will exhibit the Hunley and a maritime collection of paintings, ship models, and historic documents.
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