Welcome to the Maryland Historical Trust's page for the Shipwreck Tagging Archaeological Management Program (STAMP).
If you have found your way here, there's a good chance you have discovered a disarticulated timber on a beach
and scanned the QR code to find out more information. If that's the case, see below for the list of timbers
that have been catalogued in Maryland so far to learn more about your find!
If you have not found a timber and just wanted to find out a little bit more about what we do, then keep reading
below or head back to the main page to learn more about STAMP. Identifying
parts of a timber helps us keep track of what is out there and its significance. Can you tell the difference
between a treenail and a square spike? What about hand hewn and saw cut wreckage?
Treenail/Trunnel: Wooden peg or dowel used to fasten pieces of wood together.
Square Spike: Nail with square head used to fasten pieces of wood together.
If the timber was cut by hand, the treenails will be hexagonal. If the pieces were machine cut, they will be
a perfect circle. It is possible to have both machine cuts and hand hewing on a piece of wreckage.
This space will be updated as we receive new information from our citizen scientists!
Shipwreck Tags are numbered but, to teach the process, four tags with letters (Tags 0000a-0000d) were deployed on ship's
timbers at the Nature Center of Assateague State Park. One timber is made up of two pieces of wood and both pieces are
tagged; the smaller one has a real tag (Tag #0009). As these pieces will not continue to travel, the QR code for the
Florida STAMP database will not show these tags. The Maryland STAMP QR code comes to this page and the timber can be
looked up by its Tag letter or number. Test Tag 0000c is an especially good example.
