Margaret E. "Peggy" Leshikar-Denton is an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

specialising in

underwater archaeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...

, and director of the Cayman Islands National Museum.

Education

Leshikar-Denton has a B.F.A. and an M.A. from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and a

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

. from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

where her thesis was on the Wreck of the Ten Sail, a 1794 shipwreck off Cayman. Her thesis title was "The 1794 Wreck of the Ten Sail, Cayman Islands, British West Indies: A Historical Study and Archaeological Survey".

Career

Leshikar-Denton was appointed as director of the Cayman Islands National Museum in 2011, having first been appointed to a post in the museum in 1986. She has worked on archaeological sites in countries including

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, Turks and Caicos and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. She is a research associate of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at

. She contributed the chapter "Caribbean Maritime Archaeology" to the ''Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology''. In 1998 and 1999, she was the UNESCO representative at meetings of the Latin American and Caribbean Technical Commission on Underwater Cultural Heritage, and in 2001, she worked on the

UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is a treaty that was adopted on 2 November 2001 by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).UNESC"2001 Convention o ...

as a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites delegation. She is a past secretary of the International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH) of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and represents the Cayman Islands on the committee.

Recognition

In 2016 she was awarded the Society for Historical Archaeology's award of merit for her work on the protection of underwater cultural heritage.

Personal life

She has lived in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

since 1986, having first visited in 1980 with a team from the

Institute of Nautical Archaeology The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) is the world's oldest organization devoted to the study of humanity's interaction with the sea through the practice of archaeology. History INA's founder George Bass (archeologist), Dr. George Bass pion ...

(INA) at

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leshikar-Denton, Margaret Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Caymanian people Women museum directors Texas A&M University alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni American women archaeologists Underwater archaeologists