Coastal and Island Archaeology (Other Keyword)
326-350 (366 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Maritime adaptations play an essential role in the central Andean past as far back as the region’s earliest occupation. While economically useful molluscan species are well known by archaeologists, other invertebrates are inadequately understood due to poor preservation and/or lack of interest. This poster presents the preliminary results of a biodiversity...
Toward the Remote Identification of Stone Tools in Submerged, Buried Contexts Using Acoustics (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since the inception of geophysical survey, archaeologists have longed for the ability to detect the presence or absence of artifacts in buried contexts remotely. This ability is particularly desirable underwater, where accuracy in site location and efficiency in excavation are paramount given the expense and logistical burden associated with performing...
Tracking Changes in Nearshore Ecology over 2000 Years in Southern Yap, Western Caroline Islands (2018)
The initial human settlement of Yap, Western Caroline Islands (northwest tropical Pacific), is one of the least understood in Pacific prehistory, although new archaeological research is beginning to address this issue. Excavations at the southern site of Pemrang in Yap, western Caroline Islands (northwest tropical Pacific) have revealed multiple rich, well-stratified deposits of shell and pottery spanning the known occupation sequence of Yap and extended the date of early human activity by ca....
Tracking Human Dispersals to Palau Using Ancient DNA: Results from the Chelechol ra Orrak Site (2021)
This is an abstract from the "When the Wild Winds Blow: Micronesia Colonization in Pacific Context" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Initial settlement of Remote Oceania represents the world’s last major wave of human dispersal. While transdisciplinary models involving linguistic, archaeological, and biological data have been utilized in the Pacific to develop basic chronologies and trajectories of initial settlement, a number of elusive gaps remain...
Tracking Kelp-like Marine Seaweed Fuel in the Archaeological Record of Atacama Desert Coast through Raman Spectroscopy: Insight from the Analysis of Macro- and Microremains of Charred Particles (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeophycology: New (Ethno)Archaeological Approaches to Understand the Contribution of Seaweed to the Subsistence and Social Life of Coastal Populations" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The use of seaweed as fuel has been mentioned in ethnographic sources from different world regions. Still, the archaeological record of seaweed burning is limited to contexts where preservation is exceptional, and the macroscopic...
Transplanted at the Coast: The Adaptation of Caribbean Resourcing Practices during the Late Holocene (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The movement of early agriculturalists from the South American continent during the Early and Late Ceramic Ages (500 BCE–1500 CE) marked a significant transformation of the cultural landscapes of the Caribbean archipelago. These arriving groups expressed a strong cultural identity in their ceramic materials, settlement...
Tribute from the Underworld: The Historical Ecology of the Maya Postclassic Fish Trade with Otoliths from Mayapán and Caye Coco (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Preliminary results are presented for the analysis of fish otoliths from the Maya Postclassic sites of Mayapán in Mexico, and Caye Coco in Belize. Fish otoliths are used investigate seasonality of fish harvest for the inland fish trade, and to contrast the diversity, trophic levels, and population structure of fish between both the archaeology sites, and...
The Tricky Business of Dating Shell Middens and Improving Regional Chronologies (2019)
This is an abstract from the "From Middens to Museums: Papers in Honor of Julie K. Stein" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Fifteen years ago, Julie Stein spearheaded research into the often problematic task of dating shell middens and interpreting their accumulation. By examining paired charcoal-shell dates from the San Juan Islands, Stein and colleagues refined the local marine reservoir correction (ΔR) associated with radiocarbon-dated shell,...
Turtles all the Way Down: Tracing Long-Term Genetic Change in Southern Caribbean Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Populations and Applications to Modern Conservation (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Caribbean sea turtle histories are deeply intertwined with past human activities. While modern DNA offers insight into impacts of recent stressors, to fully support sea turtle recovery we must account for activities acting on populations prior to modern baselines. Ancient DNA (aDNA) research offers a novel method for identifying timing and rate of change...
Un taller de Spondylus dentro de un edificio ritual en Pachacamac, Costa Central del Perú (ca. 1470-1533 dC) (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En la Costa Central del Perú, las investigaciones llevadas en el Edificio B15 de Pachacamac recuperaron materiales malacológicos que nos acercan a conocer las diferentes actividades realizadas tanto dentro de este edificio como de este prestigioso sitio durante los períodos tardíos. Los objetivos del análisis fueron identificar los...
The Under-Represented Mullet in SW Florida’s Archaeological Assemblages (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mullets (Mugil spp.), especially the striped mullet (Mugil cephalus), because of their predictable mass-schooling behavior, are obvious candidates as having been surplus food for the socio-politically complex, Calusa fisher-gatherer-hunters. Moreover, López de Velasco, writing in about 1570, stated that there was in southwest Florida waters a "great fishery of...
Underwater and Above-Water: Archaeology and Ethnography of Underwater Gathering and Diving Practices along the Coast of Southernmost South America (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The coasts of the Fuego-Andean-Patagonian archipelago, south of Chiloé Island, have a length of over 80,000 km and roughly comprise three distinct areas: the Chonos archipelago, the western channels, and the Fuegian channels. The underwater world of this archipelago as a whole must have been a rich and coveted treasure. The...
The Underwater Search for the Remains of the Spanish Manila Galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Pacific Maritime History: Ships and Shipwrecks" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper covers the underwater remote sensing and diver search for the remains of the Spanish Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, also known as the Beeswax Wreck, off the Oregon coast. The all-volunteer Maritime Archaeological Society has conducted a multiyear remote sensing survey and diving expeditions to search the area near the...
Unearthed Burial from Rising Sea Levels: A Collaborative Community Approach for Tackling Climate Change in the Torres Strait Islands, Australia (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Crucial Issues in United States Department of Defense Cultural Resources Management " session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Torres Strait Islands, Australia, covers 50,000 km2 and includes 300 islands, with only 17 home to community settlements. Although regional maritime culture includes seascapes rich in cosmological and spiritual meaning, many sites that constitute cultural identity are under threat due to rising sea...
Unearthing the History of Mokil Atoll: A Fresh Perspective through Zooarchaeological Exploration (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There has been a dearth of research on atolls in the central-eastern part of the Caroline Islands, especially from a zooarchaeological perspective. We present the first zooarchaeological analysis for Mokil atoll, which has been continuously inhabited since 1700-1500 cal. BP. The material was excavated in 2013 on the islet of Kahlap. The majority of the...
Update on Research at the Site of Waterfall Bluff, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (2021)
This is an abstract from the "From Veld to Coast: Diverse Landscape Use by Hunter-Gatherers in Southern Africa from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations at Waterfall Bluff, South Africa, document evidence of occupation in a persistent coastal context from MIS3 to the Middle Holocene. Remains of marine mollusks and fish show for the first time that coastal foraging was a component of some hunter-gatherer...
Use of Faunal Analysis to Examine Seismic Disturbance at 45WH10 in Birch Bay, Washington (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Faunal analysis and taphonomic observations of marine invertebrates in a legacy collection from 45WH10 in Birch Bay, Washington, demonstrated a shift in taxonomic abundance that we hypothesize may be indicative of seismic activity such as an earthquake-induced tsunami. Samples from three units showed a significant shift in the abundance of Nucella...
Using Barn Owl (Tyto alba) Pellets to Build Environmental Profiles: A 1,500-Year-Old Record from Barn Owl Cave, Santa Barbara Island, California, USA (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Palaeoeconomic and Environmental Reconstructions in Island and Coastal Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeology has a long history of applying proxy data to reconstruct past environmental conditions. Archaeological deposits, however, represent an anthropocentric view of the past, one biased by human selection and decision-making. This research focuses on excavation and analysis of owl-generated,...
Using Traditional and Nontraditional Isotopic Tracers of Diet and Mobility of Brazilian Shell Mound Populations (ca. 8000–1000 years BP) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The study of shell mounds can shed light on human occupation and adaptations at coastal environments worldwide. In South America, human groups occupied the territory close to the Atlantic Ocean for millennium (ca. 8000 to ⁓1000 years BP), building hundreds of shell mounds, some with impressive dimensions. After 2000 BP, it is assumed that these populations...
The Utility of Public LiDAR Data for Detecting and Documenting Low-Relief Archaeological Sites: A Case Study from the Pockoy Island Shell Rings, Charleston County, South Carolina (2018)
This paper evaluates the utility of high-resolution LiDAR-derived elevation data for remotely surveying difficult-to-access coastal areas to identify possible archaeological sites, which can then be targeted for further investigation. To determine the effective limits of the elevation data to visualize low-relief structures, locations of previously-recorded Archaic and Woodland-period shell rings along the lower Atlantic coast were examined. Thirty-four rings were identified, including two...
Utilization of Fish Resources at the Hopoate Site on Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga (2018)
Analysis of archaeological fish remains from the Hopoate site, on Tongatapu in the Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga, identified 18 different families. Significant change in relative abundance was evident in Lethrinidae (emperors) and Acanthuridae (surgeonfish, unicornfish), two families common as food fish in Tonga. Frequencies of the families were compared between the early settlement period (~2850-2900 cal BP) and the subsequent Plainware/Aceramic period. Larger-bodied Lethrinidae, which are...
Varied Outcomes of the Colonial Encounter in Hawaii Island's Hinterlands (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Rethinking Hinterlands in Polynesia" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Beginning in the late 18th century CE, the Hawaiian archipelago's sustained interaction with foreigners transformed the islands from independent kingdoms at the center of their world to a globalized frontier, trade entrepôt, military outpost, and, ultimately, an economic and political colony. At the same time, the seats of power and settlement...
Village Aggregation and Native Subsistence Practices at a Middle Woodland Mound Center, Gulf Coast Florida, USA (2018)
Current research at Garden Patch (8DI4), a Middle Woodland mound center with circular village construction in northern peninsular Gulf Coast Florida, provide quantitative insights into the timing and temporality of monument construction and village aggregation. Here, we combine previously modelled radiocarbon assays with new isotopic data on season of collection and habitat of exploitation. The four-phase model of site occupation when combined with the new isotopic data provide new insights into...
Weeden Island Shell Rings from the Bottom-Up: The View from Old Creek (2018)
The transition to Weeden Island mortuary and ceramic expressions along the Florida Gulf Coast also coincided with a shift in settlement. During this interval, around A.D. 600-750, earlier Swift Creek shell rings were abandoned and Weeden Island rings established nearby. In many cases, these Weeden Island shell rings were substantially larger than their predecessors, however, some anomalously small, isolated Weeden Island rings have also been recorded, such as the Old Creek Shell Ring (8Wa90) in...
Western Stemmed Technology on California's Channel Islands (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Current Perspectives on the Western Stemmed Tradition-Clovis Debate in the Far West" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleocoastal sites on California's Northern Channel Islands have produced hundreds of stemmed points, crescents, foliate points or knives, and other bifaces dated between ~12,250 and 8200 years ago. Although uniquely maritime in nature, these island Paleocoastal assemblages are clearly related to the...