The Contribution of Drowned Landscapes to Understanding Past Peoples

Archaeology relies on the interpretation of landscapes to place sites, cultural features, and artifacts in their appropriate contexts. Understanding these contexts is difficult when environmental and climatic changes hide drowned landscapes from view. Conversely, underwater environments can provide valuable benefits such as increased organic preservation, clear stratigraphy, limited post-depositional alterations, and enhanced chronological control. This symposium explores the challenges archaeologists face when working on drowned landscapes as well as the range of new information these rich environments have provided. Papers presenting methodology and results for underwater landscape surveys, site testing and exploration, and underwater excavation of terrestrial sites demonstrate the growing importance of this area of research. With sites ranging across human history, explorations of underwater landscapes and drowned terrestrial sites are invaluable for current and future archaeological research.