Donny Hamilton

President, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas, USA
Professor of Texas A&M University

Dr. Hamilton is a native Texan. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1967 and a Doctorate in Anthropology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1975.

He has been a faculty member of the Nautical Archaeology Program and the Anthropology Department at Texas A&M University since 1978. He specializes in underwater archaeology, artifact conservation and restoration, and North American historic and prehistoric archaeology.

As director of the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University, he has pioneered many of the techniques now used in the conservation of artifacts and has gained an international reputation for his work in this field.

Dr. Hamilton's past and present research includes the conservation of artifacts recovered from the shipwreck of the 1554 Spanish Fleet, excavated off the coast of Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico; the excavation and conservation of the material from the sunken 17th-century English town of Port Royal in Jamaica ; and the excavation and analysis of archaeological materials from Granado Cave in West Texas . Conservation of the extensive collection of material recovered from the excavation of La Salle's ship, the Belle. Texas. Dr. Hamilton teaches courses in historical archaeology and artifact conservation.