Degrees:
Ph.D., Texas A&M Univ.
M.A., Duquesne Univ.
B.A., Grove City College
Megan Crutcher is a maritime and public historian and archaeologist. Crutcher’s scholarly focus has been on the maritime history and archaeology of the Atlantic World and West Africa, especially Liberia. Crutcher earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology Program) from Texas A&M University in 2025 and holds an M.A. in Public History from Duquesne University (2020). In Liberia, they co-direct the Kru Coast Heritage Initiative, an archaeological and public history project investigating Indigenous heritage in Sinoe County, Liberia. Crutcher has collaborated with international teams from several countries to complete archaeological excavations, archival research, monitoring of archaeological sites, and curation/analysis of material culture across Europe, the Americas, and Africa and is a PADI-certified Rescue Diver.
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Historical Archaeology
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Maritime Archaeology/History
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African History
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Public History
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Global History
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Social History
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West Africa
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The Atlantic World
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HIST-278
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Conservation and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
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HIST-282
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Maritime Archaeology of the Atlantic World
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HIST-343
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The History and Archaeology of West Africa
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Maritime history/archaeology
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Economic history/archaeology
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Globalization and Imperialism
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Liberia
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Atlantic World
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West Africa
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Household archaeology
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Conservation and material culture studies
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- Crutcher, M. (2026). "A Maritime Cultural Landscape of Liberia, West Africa." Journal of Maritime Archaeology 21:6.
- Kennedy, C., & Crutcher, M. (2025). “Challenging Exoticization: Maritime Archaeology Logistics in West Africa and East Canada.”Mainsheet 3, 50–68.
- Crutcher, M., Gueye, M., & Sarathi, A. (2025). Developing a new theoretical model for West African maritime archaeology. Critical African Studies 17:3, 315–333.
- Gueye, M. & Crutcher, M. (2025). "Maritime Archaeology: A Critical Exploration of Landscape and Environmental Histories in West Africa."Revue Akiri 10:1, no. 24, 347-363.
- Crutcher, M. & Belton, L. (2025). ‘They Do Not Have Physiognomies of Their Own’: Tracking Racialization of Maritime Professions in the Eighteenth-Century Portuguese Empire. Journal of Social History, 59:2, 215–237.
- Crutcher, M. & Kondeh, P.D.S. (2025). ‘Mississippi Street Was Eaten by the Sea’: Climate Justice and Coastal Heritage in Liberia. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 1-26.
- Crutcher, M. (2023). ‘For King and Empire’: The Changing Political, Economic, and Cultural Identities of Kru Mariners in Atlantic Africa, 1460-1945. Journal of African History 64:3, 437-448.
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- Research funding from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology Discovery Fund, 2024-2026
- Research funding from the Society for Postmedieval Archaeology, 2024-2025
- Yearlong Funded Member, Folger Institute Colloqium on Atlantic Empires, 2024-2025
- Texas A&M University Department of Anthropology, Dissertation Research Grant, 2024
- Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (ACUA) & RECON Offshore Travel Award, 2023
- Glasscock Center for the Humanities, Texas A&M University, Fieldwork Grant, 2022
- Southeastern Conference (SEC) Emerging Scholar, 2020
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