Investigating Subsided and Drowned Shell Middens in Coastal Louisiana: Research at Sites 16SB47 and 16SB153

Summary

Archaeologists from Coastal Environments, Inc., (CEI) reassessed the National Register eligibility of the Bayou St. Malo site (16SB47) and site 16SB153, located adjacent to one another on the southeastern shore of Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Previous investigations at the two sites suggested that cultural remains occurred only on the marsh surface adjacent to the lake, primarily as redeposited, wave-washed materials, and that neither site was eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. CEI’s investigations utilized terrestrial subsurface probing, hand-turned augering, and controlled testing, plus offshore vibracoring and subbottom profiling, to identify intact shell mounds and extensive associated areas of subsided and drowned shell middens. It also was possible to reconstruct the occupation sequence of the two sites, identify the now-subsided and submerged landforms on which the locales initially developed, and to offer a methodology for examining similar sites in similar settings, particularly through an interpretation of the remote-sensing data within the established geologic and geomorphic contexts of the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19925