Summary:
The Ponta da Piedade (Lagos, Portugal) and Algarve region nautical archaeology survey, recording, and assessment project is focused on finding, excavating, and analyzing the "Ships of Discovery" from the 15th and 16th centuries AD. It is conducted by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University, Camara Municaipal de Lagos, Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation, and the IMRD.

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Filipe Castro
Co-PIs:
Dr. Rui Loureiro
Tiago Fraga
Pearce Paul Creasman

Project Details:
The main objective of this project is mapping a small area off the Ponta da Peidade promontory, in Lagos, Portugal, where a number of stone anchors were seen in the early 1990s. The second objective of this project is an inquiry and survey of the waters of the Municipality of Lagos. Both projects are part of a summer school offered in Lagos, in June 2006.

Underlying this project is the intention to create a long-term working relation with the Municipality of Lagos, the city from which Prince Henry the Navigator launched the Portuguese survey of the African coasts that eventually lead to the establishment of the India Route.

Texas A&M University and the Municipality of Lagos have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Agreement to work in conjunction and establish a center for maritime archaeology in articulation of with Lagos “Live Science Workshop,” a project to promote the study of the Portuguese seafaring in the 15th and 16th centuries.