Affiliation: East Carolina University
Dr. Jennifer McKinnon is an underwater and terrestrial archaeologist. She is a Professor in the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University and received her MA and PhD in Anthropology from Florida State University and her BS from University of Florida. 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. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Park Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others. 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 (in press). She has directed research project 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. She is the Chair of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology and is on the Board of Directors for the Society for Historical Archaeology.
In early June 1944, the largest amphibious invasion of the Pacific war unfolded just offshore the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands chain of the western Pacific. Hundreds of US amphibious vehicles, aircraft, and ships prepared for an invasion against the Japanese-held island with the hopes of capturing and securing a base from which they could conduct long-range bomb raids of Japanese mainland and end the war. The determination of both combatants and the desperation of non-combatant civilians caught in the middle still linger in the waters, on the shoreline, and in the jungles of this small but significant Pacific island. This lecture presents over 15 years of archaeological and historical research on the sunken aircraft, amphibious vehicles, and ships that lie in the tropical waters of Saipan. Interdisciplinary and community-centered approaches provide a full understanding of the history and archaeology from multiple perspectives. From the individual soldiers and their modifications of vessels to the civilian stories of hiding in caves to the sheer determination of the enemy, each site tells a story that contributes to our understanding of an incredibly significant battle in the US push across the Pacific. Stunning underwater photographs and videos paired with remarkable stories provide a snapshot of life in June and July of 1944 on Saipan.
