Archaeology and the Oil Spill:  Exploration of the Mississippi Barrier Islands as a result of the BP Oil spill

Summary

The Mississippi barrier islands are a collection of publicly accessible, naturally occurring, seacoast defense structures with evidence of Native American occupation, French exploration and colonization and American habitation through World War II.  In 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred, spilling oil across the Gulf of Mexico and onto the Mississippi Barrier Island.  The Mississippi barrier islands consist of Cat, West and East Ship, Horn, and Petit Bois Islands.  As a result of the BP Oil Spill, National Park Service archaeologists, contract archaeologists, and oil spill recovery personnel had the opportunity to survey the islands, producing a number of previously unknown historic and pre-historic archaeological sites.  The oil spill had positive and negative results such as the aforementioned discoveries and oil contamination on archaeological sites.  This paper explores the BP oil spill and the history and archaeology of the Mississippi barrier islands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Your Possible Pasts: Challenges and Opportunities in Heritage Management   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 671