Identification and Assessment of Subsided and Drowned Prehistoric Archaeological Sites, Lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain, Southeastern Louisiana

Summary

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 potential shell middens have been identified, with one site in particular, 16SB153 in St. Bernard Parish, examined through a program of offshore probing and vibracoring. Subsequent geophysical survey at 16SB153 resulted in further delineation of the offshore portion of the shell midden as recorded on subbottom profiles. When coupled with research on the small part of the site still extant onshore, it was possible to piece together a hypothetical sequence of site deterioration and movement resulting from both natural and human causes.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Geoarchaeology of Submerged, Intertidal, And Wetland Places: Advances In Method And Theory of Prehistoric Archaeology Underwater - 2015   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage