This paper explores the environmental drivers of faunal bone preservation at the Emanuel Point II and III shipwrecks, vessels from the 1559 Tristán de Luna expedition located in Pensacola Bay. By analyzing environmental variables, such as salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, tannin levels, and sediment type, this study explores how these factors affect the preservation and degradation of submerged faunal remains. Using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), elemental signatures like iron, sulfur, mercury, and strontium to assess bone mineralization, staining, and long-term marine exposure. The faunal assemblage that features pigs, cows, chickens, rats, and cats, is examined in conjunction with the environmental data to cultural activity from post-depositional processes. This interdisciplinary approach contributes to zooarchaeological methods and enhances our understanding of preservation in underwater contexts, with implications for interpreting shipboard life, provisioning strategies, and taphonomic processes at early colonial maritime sites.

The Punta Espada Shipwreck, a mid-16th century colonial merchant ship located off of the coast of the Dominican Republic, contains a diverse assemblage of finished consumer products being transported from Europe to the Americas. Indiana University is continuing to investigate the Punta Espada Shipwreck’s cargo assemblage in collaboration with the Dominican Republic Ministry of Culture. This vessel’s 16th century cargo is elucidating systems of international commerce and the infrastructure of early modern globalization and capitalism. The Punta Espada vessel’s sundry assemblage of European cargo goods includes household items such as pewter dining ware and mortars and pestles, utilitarian equipment such as pickaxes and horseshoes, and personal items such as buckles, straight pins, and aglets. Ongoing analysis of the cargo assemblage reveals networks of globalization, as well as the consumption patterns of colonization in the cultural and everyday life of mid-16th century America.

Magnetometers are well known as reconnaissance tools for locating shipwrecks. They are particularly effective when the wrecks are buried and undetectable by sonars. Through close-order surveys, magnetometers also provide insights to site components at the intrasite level. Thanks to emerging technology, locating ferrous sources within known sites has become more reliable. With handheld gradiometers, divers can identify magnetic sources similarly to metal detectors, but with greater range of detection. This paper highlights the magnetometer investigations of the Punta Espada Shipwreck, a 16^th-century shipwreck along the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. A multiscalar approach including broad reconnaissance followed by a close-order survey and finally diver transects using a gradiometer proved fruitful. This study demonstrated that the handheld gradiometer was capable of detecting several previously unknown magnetic sources which could not be located with a standard metal detector.

The mid-16th century Punta Espada Shipwreck is currently being investigated by Indiana University in collaboration with the Dominican Republic Ministry of Culture as a unique Spanish merchant vessel incoming to the Americas. While notably known for its vast collection of pewter dining ware, further excavation and examination of the ship has revealed a unique collection of ceramics characteristic of Spanish colonial site assemblages in the circum-Caribbean areas. This ceramic assemblage includes a wide range of vessel forms, surface treatments, and glazes. Among the most notable and unique of all vessels recovered from this site is a "pygg bank", complete with several copper coins still inside. The diversity of ceramics in this material assemblage, especially when compared alongside other mid-16th century Spanish shipwrecks, provides great insight into shipboard material culture of transatlantic merchant ships, as well as the types of vessels commonly sought after for everyday use in the Americas.

Indiana University’s “Living Museums in the Sea” model transforms underwater cultural heritage management from treasure salvage to in situ preservation. Examples include the 1989 development of the 1733 San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve in the Florida Keys, the 2011 inauguration of the Captain Kidd Living Museum in the Sea at the site of the 1699 Quedagh Merchant, and the ongoing designation of the mid-16th century Punta Espada shipwreck in the Dominican Republic. This approach considers both the archaeological and associated biological components of each site to ensure lasting protection. Presently, the Punta Espada Shipwreck site is pending official protection as a “strict conservation area” due to its population of critically endangered elkhorn coral, highlighting the importance of considering biology alongside archaeology. By establishing shipwrecks as special marine protected areas, this model offers a replicable framework for conservation, public education, and sustainable tourism, while offering a compelling alternative to commercial exploitation.