Porpoises and Probable Plots: NCOSA and the Search for a Submerged Cemetery

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Bridging the Land and the Sea: Documenting and Assessing Climate Impacts on North Carolina’s Coastal Heritage", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Just off the north coast of Hatteras Island on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, sits an isolated 0.01-acre parcel, tantalizingly called “Cemetery” in county records. While something cultural is visible beneath the shallow waters via satellite imagery, locals profess no knowledge. As a part of a wider coastal cemetery survey, NCOSA explored the site in late 2023. This paper will discuss what was found as well as offer a cautionary tale of necessary active site stewardship of historic resources in imperiled coastal environments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bridging the Land and the Sea: Documenting and Assessing Climate Impacts on North Carolina’s Coastal Heritage   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow