Indigenous Maritime Landscapes and Seascapes in the Mariana Islands, by Jennifer McKinnon
June 19, 2026, 15:00 Central European Time. Online via MS Teams
The Mariana Islands chain has been home to the Chamorro people for over 3500 years and the Refaluwasch people since the Spanish period. There is an incredibly rich connection to land and sea that is represented in both tangible and intangible practices and sites of maritime cultural heritage. From canoe landing and launching sites, to navigational sea lanes and associated features, to traditional fishing and collection areas, the islands and their waters are mapped with ancient practices that persist to this day. This talk will provide an overview of work that started in 2010 mapping the Indigenous maritime landscape and seascape and continues to today. The talk draws on concepts related to community archaeology, intangible heritage, landscape and seascape, ethnography, and place-based participatory mapping.
Dr. Jennifer McKINNON is an underwater and terrestrial archaeologist. She is a Professor in the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University. Her research focuses on battlefield and conflict archaeology (specifically WWII in the Pacific), Spanish exploration and colonization, Indigenous seascapes and traditional cultural places, and community and public archaeology practices. Her books include Underwater Archaeology of a Pacific Battlefield: The WWII Battle of Saipan (2015), It Rained Fire: Oral Histories from the Battle of Saipan (2019), and The Archaeology of American Shipwrecks (2026). She has directed research projects in the US, Caribbean, Europe, the Pacific, and Australia on sites ranging from Spanish colonial shipwrecks to WWII aircraft. She previously taught at Flinders University in South Australia and was a Senior Underwater Archaeologist for the State of Florida.
To register for the talk, please send us an e-mail.
Recent Comments