X Marks the Spot
The Archaeology of Piracy

Russell K. Skowronek (Edited by), Charles R. Ewen (Edited by)

9780813030791

Paperback / softback, published 25 March 2007

368 pages, 153 b&w illustrations, 20 tables, bibliography, index
23.5 x 16.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.592 kg

The first comprehensive, scholarly look at the artifactual evidence of real pirates, recovered at both shipwrecks and known pirate bases. - Archaeology Magazine ""The reader unused to digesting professional publications will, pardon the pun, sail through this book as if it were a collection of novellas! This is the definitive book on pirates and the research being done to dispel all of the fables."" - Dirtbrothers.org

This collection piques the imagination with historical evidence about the actual exploits of pirates as revealed in the archaeological record of such ships as Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, recently discovered off Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina; the Speaker, which sailed in the Indian Ocean; and the Whydah, the first pirate ship discovered in North America (near the tip of Cape Cod). Examining excavated underwater ""treasure sites"" and terrestrial pirate lairs found off the coast of Madagascar, throughout the Caribbean, and within the United States, the authors explore the romanticized ""Golden Age of Piracy,"" a period brimming with the real-life exploits of Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, and the ""gentleman pirate"" Jean Lafitte.