Archaeology Dig 2007: The Search for Amelia Earhart

This week's Fieldwork in Focus is from Tom King, occasional contributor to Archaeology at About.com and one of the participants in the search for the archaeological evidence for what really happened to aviator Amelia Earhart, who with her copilot Fred Noonan disappeared in 1937 while undertaking a trip circumnavigating the globe.

Fieldwork in Focus: The 70th Anniversary Expedition

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the disappearance of aviation pioneers Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan over the Pacific Ocean. For almost twenty years, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been testing the hypothesis that the flyers landed and died on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited island in the Republic of Kiribati. This year TIGHAR plans another expedition to the island, which they hope will yield a final solution to the mystery.

As presently planned, the expedition team will depart Los Angeles on July 12, 2007, arriving at Nadi International Airport, Fiji on July 14. In Fiji the team will board their chartered expedition ship, Nai'a, for the 1,000-mile, 5-day voyage to Nikumaroro. Archaeological operations will focus on the "Seven Site"--a campsite where human remains were found in 1940, together with a woman's shoe and a sextant box. Research will be aimed at determining the identity of the castaway(s) who died there. The team will also carry out intensive survey and some excavation in the remains of a colonial village that was inhabited from 1938 until 1963, where aircraft parts have been found on previous expeditions. On August 4 the expedition will depart Nikumaroro for the 3-day, 600-mile trip to Apia, Samoa where the team will board a commercial flight back to Fiji and from there, home to the U.S., arriving back in Los Angeles on August 9.

To help fund this expedition, TIGHAR has made five of the fifteen berths aboard Nai'a available for Sponsor Team Members--individuals who pledge at least $50,000 to TIGHAR for the opportunity to participate in this historic expedition. One of the Sponsor Team Member berths has already been spoken for. Four are left.

Sponsor Team Members must be at least 21 years of age (no maximum age limit), in good health, and be approved by TIGHAR executive director and expedition leader, Ric Gillespie.

If you are interested in becoming a Sponsor Team Member please contact TIGHAR by email at ric@tighar.org or by phone at (302) 994-4410.

Background Information

• The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR)
• Amelia Earhart's Fate: The Archaeological Investigations, a description of the archaeological investigations to date, by Tom King
• Amelia Earhart's Shoes, book on the project published in 2004 by AltaMira Press
• Finding Amelia, published in 2006 by the Naval Institute Press.
• Tom King, Contributor Biography

Related Resources: Amelia Earhart biography | Previous Fieldschools in Focus | Archaeology Dig 2007