About the author

John R. Hale was born in New Albany, Indiana, in 1951.  He earned his B.A. at Yale in 1973 and his Ph.D. at Cambridge in 1979, both degrees in Archaeology.  His archaeological fieldwork and research projects include studies of Bronze Age Scandinavian watercraft, prehistoric sites in the Ohio River Valley, the Roman villa of Torre de Palma in Portugal, development of a dating-method for ancient mortar and concrete using AMS radiocarbon analysis, investigations of the Delphic Oracle and other Greek oracle sites in Greece, Turkey and Albania, a search for Phoenician harbors on the Portuguese coast, and deep-submergence surveys in quest of ancient shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.  He has published reports on his research in Antiquity, Journal of Roman Archaeology, Scientific American and other journals.  In 2009-10 he will serve as Norton Lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America.  An oarsman from his college days, as well as an archaeologist, Hale was a founder of the Louisville Rowing Club and the Greater Louisville Rowing Foundation.  Hale has been profiled by National Public Radio and the New York Times, and his fieldwork has been featured in documentaries on the Discovery and History channels.  He is currently Director of Liberal Studies at the University of Louisville.  Lords of the Sea is his first book.