Rupert A. Brandmeier

Dr. Rupert A. Brandmeier is the co-founder and Vice President of our Institute. He is based in Munich, Germany.

Rupert is an economist by trade and joined archaeology in the late 90’s with underwater surveys in lakes in Switzerland, Austria and Germany (e.g. surveys of cargo barges in Lake Constance). He participates in the Nautical Archaeology Society training curriculum and is currently working toward his NAS Part IV Diploma in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology.

He did several nautical survey and research projects as a wreck diver in Truk Lagoon (Operation Hailstone Feb. 17-18 1944- Destruction of the Imperial Japanese Fleet), the Red Sea (Thistlegorm, Dunraven, etc.) the Mediterranean, and the Gulf.

During his stay in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2008 – 2013) he initiated together with Dr. Jamal Al Omar from Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities the establishment of nautical archaeology in the Kingdom. A five-year survey concession has been granted in 2012 to a German university (Philipps-University Marburg) and an international team of terrestrial and nautical archaeologists is working every year since then.

As an archaeological research diver and project manager (logistics) he supported the two survey seasons in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2012 and 2013), and joined Dr. Ralph K. Pedersen and Dr. Lucy Semaan for the Ain el Mreisseh Project in Beirut, Lebanon in 2013.

Rupert is a licensed yacht master (DSV – SSS) and is enrolled in the archaeological research program of  Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.