Current Projects

On May 1678, the French military fleet of Louis XIV ran aground 12 of his ships in the Aves archipelago. Thanks to investigations carried out by the Foundation, today we know that this shipwreck is one of the largest in the world. Since 1998 it has been studied and we are currently working on some publications, as well as audiovisual material. At present we still have work to do in the archipelago, since in recent field surveys we found the camps of both the French and pirates, whose ships ran aground on the island, living there for a month. The excavations in this place will be of great importance for Caribbean archaeology, as they will show the activities that were about to change the history of the region and that anticipated the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, beginning with the assault on Maracaibo, led by the famous corsair Francisco Granmont, one month after the shipwreck of Aves in June 1678.