Cape Porpoise Archaeological Partnership

Summary

The Cape Porpoise Archaeological Partnership is an alliance between the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and the Brick Store Museum. Its purpose is to conduct archaeological study of the islands in Cape Porpoise harbor located just off the coast of Kennebunkport, Maine. Evidence suggests that Historic and Pre-Historic Period archaeological sites are present. Sea level rise due to global climate change, however, is causing shoreline erosion damaging or potentially destroying these locations. Important information of past cultures is being lost before study can begin. This is why the Trust, which owns and manages these islands, supports archaeological research. An example of this erosion can be found less than five miles southwest of Stage Island at what was previously Strawberry Island. In the 1940’s, Strawberry Island was home to a working farm with farmhouse and barn. Today it is a pile of rocks completely submerged at high tide. Global sea level rise is increasing at a rate of 0.14 inches per year. This gradual increase equates to greater storm surges and conditions will worsen. Without prompt action, important information about this little-known period of history; contact between pre-Europeans and Europeans will be lost forever.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21277