Emergent Field Methodologies from New Brunswick: Madawaska Method for Shallow, Fast-Current River-Bottom Surveys

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Preliminary archaeological surveys are dynamic and site specific; by definition, they are an archaeologist’s first exposure to an environment being assessed for archaeological potential. In New Brunswick, Canada, areas in and around rivers hold the highest potential for yielding precontact and early historic material. Despite this, river bottoms and water columns are rarely, if ever, surveyed for material culture during preliminary investigations. A large-scale, international border-crossing infrastructure decommissioning and redevelopment project in northwest New Brunswick provided unique insight into preliminary underwater surveying and an opportunity to develop appropriate methodologies for use along and within New Brunswick waterways. This poster provides a brief overview of the use of a new type of underwater preliminary site survey method, created ad hoc when the traditional jackstay SCUBA survey was not suitable for site conditions. Furthermore, this poster highlights the need to include underwater preliminary surveys into New Brunswick’s CRM standards and archaeological requirements.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37107.0