Cheryl Ward, Ph.D.

Cheryl Ward teaches nautical archaeology, the history and construction of wooden ships, archaeobotany, and archaeological conservation in Florida State University's Department of Anthropology in the Program in Underwater Archaeology. Dr. Ward's most recent projects include serving as Principal Investigator for nautical archaeology in the Black Sea Trade Project, an expedition conducting remote surveys of both the ancient coastline and the deep anoxic layer in the Black Sea; Director of the Sadana Island shipwreck excavation off Egypt's Red Sea coast; Chief Scientist for the investigation of a 5th-millennium BCE wooden object in an Omani lagoon funded by the National Geographic Research Committee; and as the ship reconstructor in the excavation of the world's oldest planked boats at Abydos, Egypt.

Ongoing research also includes publication preparation of the 18th-c. Sadana Island Shipwreck excavation report. The Sadana ship sank while carrying a luxury cargo of Chinese porcelain, coffee, and aromatic resin among other goods. Archaeobotanical studies of shipwrecks off the coast of Florida and Turkey also are underway.

Dr. Ward lectures nationally for museums and the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), and has written a number of scholarly and popular articles. The AIA published her analysis of over 20 wooden boats from Egypt in Sacred and Secular: Ancient Egyptian Ships and Boats (2000). She is an Adjunct Professor for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.