George Fletcher Bass (born December 9, 1932 in Columbia, South Carolina) is recognized as the father of underwater archaeology.

Bass was the director of the first archaeological expedition to entirely excavate an ancient shipwreck: cape Gelydonia (1960). Since directing his first excavation, he has excavated shipwrecks of the Bronze Age, Classical Age, and the Byzantine. Bass is professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, where he held the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Chair in Nautical Archaeology.

In 1973 Bass founded the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA). INA has conducted some of the most important excavations of the twentieth century, and its findings throw new light into areas as diverse as the beginning of the free enterprise system, the dating of Homer's Odyssey, chronologies of Egyptian dynasties and Helladic cultures, and the histories of technology, economics, music, art and religion.

[edit] Founder

Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA).

[edit] Awards

• Archaeological Institute of America's Gold Medal for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement
• Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award
• National Geographic Society La Gorce Gold Medal
• National Geographic Society Centennial Award
• J.C. Harrington Medal from The Society for Historical Archaeology
• Honorary doctorate from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool
• National Medal of Science (2002) presented by President George W. Bush

[edit] Books

• Beneath the Seven Seas : Adventures with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology by George Fletcher Bass (London : Thames & Hudson, 2005) ISBN 0500051364 OCLC: 60667939
• Archaeology Under Water by George Fletcher Bass (New York, Praeger, 1966) OCLC: 387479
• Archaeology Beneath the Sea by George Fletcher Bass (New York : Walker, 1975) ISBN 0802704778 OCLC: 1414901
• A History of Seafaring Based on Underwater Archaeology by George Fletcher Bass (New York, Walker, 1972)ISBN 0802703909 OCLC: 508334
• Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas: a history based on underwater archaeology by George Fletcher Bass (New York, N.Y. : Thames and Hudson, 1988) ISBN 050005049X OCLC: 18759167
• Cape Gelidonya: a Bronze Age Shipwreck by George Fletcher Bass (Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1967) OCLC: 953382
• Navi e Civiltà : Archeologia Marina by George Fletcher Bass (Milano : Fratelli Fabri, 1974) OCLC: 8201972
• Yassi Ada by George Fletcher Bass and Frederick H Van Doorninck (College Station : Published with the cooperation of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology by Texas A&M University Press, ©1982) ISBN 0890960631 OCLC: 7925092
• Geschiedenis van de scheepvaart weerspiegeld in de scheepsarcheologie by George Fletcher Bass (Bussum : Unieboek, 1973) ISBN 9022819086 OCLC: 64115385
• Serce Limani, vol. 1: the ship and its anchorage, crew, and passengers by George Fletcher Bass and others (College Station: Published with the cooperation of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology by Texas A&M University Press, 2004) ISBN 0890969477 OCLC: 56457232
• Beneath the wine dark sea : nautical archaeology and the Phoenicains of the Odyssey by George F Bass OCLC: 41174856
• A diversified program for the study of shallow water searching and mapping techniques by George F Bass; Donald M Rosencrantz; United States Dept. of Navy, Office of Naval Research; University of Pennsylvania, University Museum (Philadelphia, Pa.: The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1968) OCLC: 61423407
• Glass treasure from the Aegean by George Fletcher Bass (Washington: National Geographic Society, 1978) OCLC: 13594255
• Shipwrecks in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology by George Fletcher Bass and Bodrum Sualtı Arkeoloji Müzesi (Bodrum : Museum of Underwater Archaeology, 1996) ISBN 9751716055 OCLC: 35759537
• New tools for undersea archeology by George Fletcher Bass (v. 134, no. 3 (Sept. 1968) (Washington, D.C. : National Geographic Society, ©1968 OCLC: 57758351
• Archäologie unter Wasser by George Fletcher Bass (Bergisch Gladbach: Lübbe, 1966) OCLC: 73584270
• Marine archaeology: a misunderstood science by George Fletcher Bass (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, ©1980) OCLC: 13598481
• Tesori in fondo al mare by George Fletcher Bass (Milano: Sonzogno, 1981) OCLC: 46996362