The Geoarchaeology of Submerged, Intertidal, And Wetland Places: Advances In Method And Theory of Prehistoric Archaeology Underwater - 2015

DOCUMENT Citation Only Leah Colombo.

Many attempts have been made to consistently locate submerged and inundated prehistoric archaeological sites offshore the state of Florida. In many instances these attempts have not been successful in some respects but beneficial in others. This paper will identify the issues of studying such sites and the results of past and recent studies. However, the main topic of the paper will focus on a recent study exercised within the Florida Bay region of Everglades National Park. Working in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Weinstein. Charles Pearson. Amanda Evans.

From 2010 to 2014, archaeologists from Coastal Environments, Inc., conducted several remote-sensing surveys within Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain in an effort to locate the remains of drowned prehistoric terrestrial sites that once existed prior to subsidence and shoreline transgression. In this effort, it has been critical to interpret the remote-sensing data within the established geologic and geomorphic contexts of the region. Several submerged and buried high-probability landforms and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John OShea. Ashley Lemke. Elizabeth Sonnenburg.

Some of the most pivotal questions in human prehistory hinge on archaeological sites that are now under water. While the discovery of such sites presents technological challenges, they offer unique potentials for investigating time periods, cultures, and adaptations that are only poorly known on land. Unfortunately, underwater research rarely produces the systematic coverage of space and material culture that is needed to conduct anthropologically relevant research. The investigation of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nicolena (Niki) Virga. Norman Easton. Charles Moore. Andrew Mason. Rob Field.

Twenty-one years ago we completed our last of four field seasons excavating inter-tidal and sub-tidal sediments in Montague Harbour, Galiano Island, British Columbia. While a permit report describing basic results and several analytical publications ensued, a final summary concluding publication remained to be completed. Here we present the essential elements of this forthcoming publication, which will discuss methodology, provide a comprehensive database on recovered artifacts and ecofacts,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kerry Lynch.

A portion of Salem Harbor in Massachusetts was investigated during a cultural resource management project in 2009/2010. The underwater reconnaissance included a remote sensing survey using a Klein 3.5 kHz sub-bottom profiler. An acoustic basement was recognized at approximately two meters below the sea bed, and was hypothesized to be an organic layer potentially representative of a buried land surface below marine sediment. Vibratory cores were used to ground truth the potential buried land...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Daryl Fedje. Quentin Mackie. Duncan McLaren.

The sea level history of the Discovery Island archipelago on the Canadian West Coast shows that early post-glacial paleoshorelines are stranded up to 165 m above modern. Under the auspices of the Tula Foundation we are using this history and landscape modeling to guide investigation into the early human history of the area. Survey has focussed on landforms such as raised marine terraces, tombolos and wave cut notches (potential rockshelters). In 2014 we located and tested archaeological sites...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Stefan Claesson.

In 2013, two Pleistocene mega-faunal remains, a single mammoth tooth and a partial juvenile mastodon mandible with teeth, from two separate locations, were recovered by a scallop-fisherman in the Merrimack River embayment off the coast of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. These well-preserved finds follow on previous finds by fishermen in the same locale over the last two decades, as well as numerous other offshore finds that have occurred in the Gulf of Maine for more than 50 years. This...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ben Ford. Mark Durante. Katherine Farnsworth.

This paper presents the results of a preliminary model of submerged prehistoric site potential within the Pennsylvania portion of Lake Erie. The model takes into account both cultural and natural factors that may have influenced the placement and preservation of archaeological sites. Archaeological data from the current Lake Erie littorals of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York were used to model likely site locations based on known bottom features within Lake Erie, such as drowned shorelines and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only C. Hemmings. J. M. Adovasio.

Underwater exploration and excavation of target loci along the inundated Paleo-Suwannee River Channel has recently focused on the Brownstone site. The western edge of the paleo-channel in the study area contains several grades of cryptocrystalline chert and dolomite. Materials recovered and attempts to access underlying stratified deposits are detailed. Further, correlation of the inundated Pleistocene landscape and known riverine features with timing of human occupation and utilization of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessi Halligan. Michael Waters. Morgan Smith.

Hundreds of Paleoindian artifacts have been found in northern Florida, mostly by avocational archaeologists and collectors. Many archaeologists have noted the correlation between Paleoindian artifact locations and known chert outcrops. Further, many of these finds were recovered from Florida streams by SCUBA divers, often in displaced contexts or in areas with no sediment. Extensive research in portions of the Aucilla River have allowed archaeologists to arrive at some understanding of site...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Amanda Evans.

Archaeologists have been conducting prehistoric archaeological research on the world’s continental shelves for the last 40 years, with a general consensus that remote sensing combined with physical sampling is the best method for identifying sites. Following the conclusion of a US federally-funded (BOEM) study in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, two promising Paleoindian landscapes have been verified 20 and 30 miles offshore, at depths of between 16 and 32 m BSL. Remote sensing and physical...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Quentin Mackie. Alison Proctor. Fedje Daryl. Bradley Colin.

The search for early human occupation on drowned continental shelves is hampered by the low archaeological visibility of typical hunter-gatherer sites. Predictive modelling for site locations can produce polygons of potential, but these need to be tested both to evaluate the model and to recover material remains. Sampling of underwater predictive model potential polygons is difficult, expensive and usually low-return. However, some sites, such as stone-wall fish weirs, may be directly visible to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only E. James Dixon. Kelly Monteleone.

Four seasons (2010-14) of underwater archaeological survey (NSF OPP -#0703980 and 1108367) on the continental shelf of SE Alaska demonstrates that survey for evidence of human habitation when sea level was lower is feasible. Real time ROV monitoring and video, hydrologic excavation, airlift sampling, and graduated screening can be reliably employed for sea floor sampling following multibeam, side-scan sonar, and sub-bottom profile surveys. Limiting dates for submerged landscape features and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica Cook. Ervan Garrison.

Sedentary occupations and monumental architecture first appear during the Middle Archaic (8,000 BP to 5,000 BP) in Florida at sites where marine, estuarine, and riverine resources were exploited, spreading to the coast of Georgia by the Late Archaic, around 4,500 BP. However, the coastline did not reach its modern position until around 5,000 BP, leaving many sites submerged. Fieldwork was initiated in June of 2014 in order to relocate, excavate, and interpret Middle Archaic sites submerged in...