A Refined Relative Sea Level Curve and Paleoshoreline Modelling for the Prince Rupert Harbour Region

Summary

Deglaciation following the last glacial maximum caused dramatic coastline changes around the world. Locating and analyzing archaeological evidence of human settlement requires an understanding of the relative sea level (RSL) history and related changes to the landscape. On the Northwest Coast of North America RSL was affected by local glacial and tectonic conditions, and current research demonstrates that sea level histories are locally contingent and vary widely. This paper presents a refined sea level curve for the Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH) region reconstructed through diatom analysis of sediment isolation basin cores, geological survey, and geoarchaeological evidence. The sea level curve is used with high-resolution digital elevation models constructed from LiDAR data to construct an archaeological survey model that targets high-potential coastal landforms from times when the RSL differed. This study is significant given that the PRH and immediately surrounding area was one of the most densely occupied regions of the Northwest Coast and has been intensively surveyed, but lacks recorded sites dating older than 6000 cal. BP, arguably due to variable paleoshorelines. This research furthers our understanding of the paleolandscape that the first peoples would have encountered and how human settlement is affected by changing sea levels.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage