Coastal Archaeology (Other Keyword)
26-35 (35 Records)
In Scotland, there is a long tradition of archaeologists working at sites threatened by coastal erosion. Government Agency, Historic Scotland, has sponsored a series of coastal surveys in order to locate sites; and the SCAPE Trust has worked with national and local heritage bodies to prioritize action and produce an interactive ‘Sites at Risk’ map from the data. The map includes sites of all periods and site types, many of which contain a wealth of palaeoenvironmental data. The coast is a highly...
Sea Change: Maritime Maya Lifeways, Social Organization and Dynamics at the Port of Isla Cerritos, Yucatán (2017)
Mesoamerican archaeology typically approaches social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics from a center-periphery perspective, tracing the historical pulses of integration and disintegration through the lens of the urban centers of the social and cosmological landscape. While the coastal Maya may seem peripheral geographically, maritime communities were actually central integrative forces throughout their dynamic histories. They facilitated and motivated movements and interactions of...
Shifting the paradigm of coastal archaeology in Latin America (2017)
How might knowledge of past fisheries contribute to the future sustainability of modern coastal societies? Small-scale coastal fisheries provide a crucial source of food and livelihood to millions of people living in South America. Such coastal economies are founded on long-established knowledge that is deeply rooted in the past. Whilst marine conservation, dwindling fish stocks and environmental sustainability have driven the research agenda in recent years, government and international...
Springs, stone, and shell: recent excavation at the Econfina Channel Site, a submerged Archaic site, Apalachee Bay, Florida, U.S.A. (2016)
We present here the results from recent surveys and excavations at the Econfina Channel Site in Apalachee Bay, Florida, U.S.A., a submerged prehistoric site with a terminus post quem of approximately 5000 B.P. This site was initially identified and excavated in the 1980s in the course of a larger survey for submerged prehistoric sites in Apalachee Bay by Faught, et al. Our relocation and new excavations at the site have confirmed the presence of chert outcrops, a shell midden deposit, and a seep...
Subsistence, Landscape, and Identity as Explored through Archaeofaunal Remains from Northwestern Florida (2016)
This paper explores relationships among subsistence, landscape, and identity on the northern Gulf Coast of Florida. Zooarchaeological assemblages from three Woodland-period shell midden sites (8BY1347, 8BY1355, 8BY1359), all located on a small (150 km2) peninsula in Bay County, Florida, differ in molluscan species composition reflecting proximity to varied marine and estuarine habitats. Coastal dwellers had flexible subsistence regimens, targeting local habitats rather than specific resources....
To Let Sink or Swim: Evaluating Coastal Archaeological Resource Stability Through a System of Indices (2018)
Archaeological resources in the coastal zone are subjected to a variety of cultural, social, and environmental conditions that affect the resources’ stability, which can be defined in physical (e.g. structure, geophysical environment), socio-cultural (e.g. looting, vandalism), and regulatory (e.g. federal, state, and local mandates) terms. To effectively manage resources within this dynamic environment requires a holistic understanding of what drives stability (or instability) at each site. The...
The Transect Survey at 30-something (2015)
In 1977, an American Museum of Natural History team lead by David Hurst Thomas began an ambitious survey of St. Catherines Island, Georgia. The intent was to systematically survey 10% of the island following a series of transect lines using a research design from plant ecology. The survey collected hundreds of small vertebrate samples, none of which met zooarchaeological standards for adequate sample sizes and analysis. These hundreds of small samples, however, proved invaluable because they...
Updates and Progress of the Ongoing Public Oriented Cultural Resource Monitoring Program (2017)
Scattered near the coastline of Assateague Island, along the Maryland/Virginia border, hundreds of ships met their demise through harsh weather conditions and treacherous shoals. Similar environmental factors have allowed archaeologists to document and collect data on these sites through the establishment of a Historic Wreck Tagging Program. The author, working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, developed and implemented a system to track the degradation and movement of shipwreck timbers as...
Vista Alegre: Recent excavations of an ancient Maya port site along the north coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico (2017)
The Proyecto Costa Escondida (PCE) has undertaken investigations along the north coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico since 2006. In this paper we present results of the 2016 field season, which was focused on the small island port site of Vista Alegre. The 2016 field season at the site had two main objectives. One was to document the extent and scale of human modification at Vista Alegre. The second was to investigate distinct architectural groups at the site to better understand their chronology. To...
What are the Potential Effects of an Oil Spill on Coastal Archaeological Sites? (2015)
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette have collaborated to determine the immediate and long-term impacts of an oil spill on cultural resources and archaeological sites in the coastal zone. Nearly five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the immediate and long-term impacts of oil and dispersants on cultural resources and archaeological sites remain unknown. Concerns include effects that might diminish or destroy the site’s future research...