PREHISTORIC COASTAL ADAPTATIONS TO THE NORTHERN GULF OF MAINE AND ITS WATERSHED

Summary

The northern Gulf of Maine (GOM) and its watershed have attracted humans for the last 12,500 years (cal BP), and evidence of marine economies is well established in adjacent regions by ca. 8000 cal BP. Sea level rise (SLR) has obscured our understanding of early coastal adaptations, though underwater research and some near-shore sites are providing important insights. The earliest evidence from shell middens dates to ca. 5000 cal BP, and reveals that bivalve collecting and the seasonal exploitation of benthopelagic fish (such as cod) were important, though varied in intensity, throughout the Late Archaic and Woodland Periods. However, significant economic shifts have occurred. In particular, a Late Archaic focus on marine swordfish hunting was replaced by a dramatic increase in inshore seal hunting in the Woodland Period. After ca. 3100 cal BP, inshore fishing for cod, flounder, sculpin, sturgeon and other species intensified. During the Late Woodland Period, shellfish exploitation declined somewhat and the hunting of small seals, and in some areas, white-tailed deer, increased sharply. The extent and nature of coastal economies in the northern GOM was controlled, in part, by SLR, increasing tidal amplitude, and concomitant changes in surface-water temperatures, in tandem with broad regional cultural shifts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Human-Environmental Dynamics on the Atlantic Coast of North America

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