Not your typical college professor

When you hear that someone is a "classics professor," you might have an image of a forgetful person who spends most of their time in his office, surrounded by books written in Greek and Latin.

But Luther College's new classics professor, Dan Davis, definitely does not fit that stereotype.  Sure, Davis holds the bachelor of arts degree from the University of Iowa, the master's degree from Texas A&M University and the doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

But Davis comes to Luther College from the Center for Exploration and Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.  That means his archaeological research has been done in deep water in the Mediterranean regions, particularly the Black Sea. 

Davis and his colleagues have been conducting extensive surveying and sampling of shipwrecks in deep water along the coasts of Crimea, Ukraine and Turkey.  The group has documented several Late Roman and Byzantine shipwrecks located in the sea's anoxic layer and has conducted partial excavations on two of them.  These are the first full-fledged excavations of a shipwreck to strict archaeological standards using remotely operated vehicles.  

Davis doesn't spend all his time below water, however.  He has also authored chapters, articles and reviews on Homer, iconography, ancient seafaring, ancient harbors and deepwater archaeology.  He has articles in preparation on the architecture and ideology of Athens' monumental shipsheds and on the first deepwater excavations ever conducted on an ancient shipwreck using remotely-operated underwater vehicles.