An underwater explorer, Frederick “Fritz” Hanselmann is passionate about past civilizations and things that are lost and long forgotten below the sea’s surface. Hanselmann, lecturer and director of the underwater archaeology and exploration program in the Department of Marine Ecosystems and Society at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, dives deep into Caribbean waters to study shipwrecks, caves and submerged prehistoric sites to gain insight into humanity’s past and ultimately better understand who we are.

“Who we are is who we were,” says Hanselmann. “That’s what we can learn from archaeology—phenomenal stories, making discoveries, all by studying the physical record of past human activity.”

View the video below to learn more about Hanselmann and his extensive work in exploration and archaeology in the Americas, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Basin—spanning from 13,000 years ago with Paleo-Indians in North America to Spanish shipwrecks and piracy in the 17th and 18th centuries to sunken vessels from World War II.