Submerged landscapes on the Sahul shelf: Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Attention this is a Submergency: Incorporating Global Submerged Records", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Within maritime archaeology the notion of the sea as a barrier has been replaced with discussion of connecting seas and nowhere is this more important than in discussions of movement of people through Wallacea into Sahul in deep time. Understanding of movement and activity within this region necessitates understanding of the dynamic relationship between land and sea. Palaeocoastlines, act not as set boundaries delimitating and limiting activity, but are constantly shifting theatres for life. Coastlines structure human activity, they provide access to a mosaic of resources and habitats, enable travel and migration, and furnish the landscape with points of reference for navigation. However, many Late Pleistocene coastlines have been submerged by post glacial sea-level rise. This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore these now submerged palaeocoastlines using 2D and 3D seismic data from the Bonaparte Basin, Kimberley Shelf and Arafura regions of Australia’s northwest Shelf.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Attention this is a Submergency: Incorporating Global Submerged Records   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow