A Chesapeake Bay Paleoindian Legacy: Marine Transgression, Shoreline Erosion, and Archaeology

Summary

The Chesapeake Bay at present encompasses approximately 4,479 square miles of estuarine water and it contains almost 12,000 linear miles of coastline. Numerous archaeological sites occur along the margins of the bay and its tributaries. Thousands of these sites are regularly threatened by the daily onslaught of wind and wave activity. The Delmarva Peninsula, which encompasses the eastern margins of the bay, has revealed approximately 350 Clovis-style fluted projectile points. Later and potentially earlier Paleo-American sites have also been discovered. Most of these sites and their associated assemblages have been found along the actively eroding shorelines of the peninsula. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the natural coastal erosion threats observed at several Paleoindian sites and to offer simple solutions to address the loss of these important sites. A few of these rapidly disappearing sites have been partially investigated over the past 35 years and offer unique insights into regional Paleoindian adaptations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18713