For Sarah Muckerheide, diving into the past is as much a passion as a professional aspiration.
Laboratory Coordinator and Open Water Scuba Instructor for the SPH-B Center for Underwater Science and Academic Diving Program, Muckerheide is a main curator of the upcoming Shipwrecks: Living Museums exhibition, which will open in the William Mathers Gallery on Saturday, April 11, 2026 at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
More than a year in the making, the exhibition has been developed in partnership with Center Director Charles Beeker. It will feature more than 100 artifacts on display as well as historical photographs of noteworthy shipwrecks from Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline and the Caribbean, including the Punta Espada shipwreck located in the Dominican Republic that is the topic of Muckerheide’s dissertation as a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology.
“The great thing about shipwrecks is you have far more complete objects than you normally would; often in archaeology you are primarily digging up items that people have thrown away,” says Muckerheide. “We have complete pewter plates, a few ceramic vessels—the majority of items on display are about 99 percent complete.”
Most of the artifacts in the exhibit are on loan from the Dominican Republic Ministry of Culture from shipwrecks based in the area, including the Punta Espada site, which Muckerheide has been able to visit every summer since 2022 thanks to the support of Beeker and the Center. While there are no artifacts on display from more local historic shipwrecks such as the Muskegon and the J.D. Marshall, Muckerheide says there are plenty of photographs of them in the Indiana section, as well as an example of a buoy and a plaque that indicates to divers where a historic shipwreck is located.
As for her research on the Punta Espada Shipwreck, Muckerheide says if she didn’t have the support from IU and the Center for her research, there is a high possibility its thousands of artifacts wouldn’t be studied at all. While a specific date for the shipwreck has not been determined as the Spanish archival research has shown mostly handwritten and often nearly illegible records, Muckerheide estimates it to date from about the mid-16th century.
“This is one of the only documented ships of this time period that was coming from Spain to the Americas,” says Muckerheide. “This one had all the European commercial goods that were shipped across Europe to Seville, Spain, then they were sent by [the Punta Espada ship] to the American colonies. Once there, they would be exchanged for raw materials such as silver and gold precious metals, sugar, pharmaceuticals, and even cow hides to be sent back to Spain and sold throughout Europe.”
One of Muckerheide’s favorite artifacts that will be on display is “nesting weights,” a series of cup-shaped metal weights designed to fit into one another for compact storage, which were used between the 15th and 19th centuries by merchants to measure and price goods.
“Each [cup] weighs half as much as the other one, and we have tested them on our modern digital scales in the lab and they all weigh accurately,” says Muckerheide. “It is what we call the ‘perfect’ artifact because being underwater for 450 years it is [still in] excellent condition, and it is easy to present and explain its use.”
One of the main challenges in bringing the exhibit to life in partnership with the museum was explaining the history of everything on display in a concise and understandable way. Muckerheide worked closely with co-curator Kenzie Day in consolidating the information down to an “eighth grade reading level” for final review by the museum staff. A research assistant for the Center of Underwater Science, Day is a second-year graduate student in the Curatorship M.A. program who is also completing the Certificate in Underwater Resource Management within SPH-B.
“[Kenzie] was a big help as time management was the biggest challenge I faced this past year as I balanced my duties as an exhibit curator, running the lab, and also being a Ph.D. student,” says Muckerheide. “But this exhibit has given me great experience in the museum field. Being able to say that I sat from the big idea planning process to installing the objects…it has given me a lot of exposure to the different facets of what an archaeologist does to collaborate with a museum to get research out there in a public setting.”
Beeker adds, "Sarah's dedication over a number of years, and more recently Kenzie's commitment are commendable, and well beyond just their respective graduate degree pursuits. I find it very rewarding to find and support such top-quality students."
Read more about SPH-B faculty, staff, and students making a difference at go.iu.edu/48bx.