Search

The archaeology of the immediate coastline of West Africa remains surprisingly little understood, and what research has been undertaken has often focused on questions relating to sea-based interactions and the precolonial polities lying slightly inland. This paper reports the results of excavations on Ohlinhoué, a small lagoonal island in the western Republic of Bénin. A locally manufactured ceramic assemblage was recovered, together with a small suite of artifacts, including glass, metal, shell, and smoking pipes. These archaeological data provide insights into a small-scale, likely fishing and salt-producing community in this area between sea and river. As such, they provide an alternative to historical readings relating to well-known precolonial polities and trade entrepôts that feed popular historical narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our ocean planet is home to diverse marine environments and organisms that played an important role in human evolution and ecology. Today, coastal marine ecosystems are dramatically degraded and threatened by climate change, habitat destruction, overfishing, and more, leaving key questions about the future of ocean ecosystems in increasingly unstable times. Archaeology provides perspectives on past marine ecosystems and people's role in shaping and influencing coastal environments prior to the dramatic changes of the postindustrial era. Drawing on archaeological research from the California Coast and the Chesapeake Bay, I explore how an understanding of long-term human interactions with marine ecosystems can help address contemporary environmental challenges and better prepare us for an uncertain future. Although clear examples of archaeological research guiding present-day biological conservation management and policy are limited, there are important signs of success. These include collaboration with Indigenous communities; growing recognition by biologists, ecologists, and other scientists of the significance of archaeological and historical ecological perspectives; and continued emphasis on the links between environmental conservation and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

California's Northern Channel Islands contain an incredible record of terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene human occupation. Since the hunter-gatherer-fishers who created these sites relied heavily on marine resources, a critical aspect of understanding early settlement patterns is calculating distance to paleoshorelines. This has traditionally been accomplished using sea-level curves and bathymetric models that do not account for sediment deposited offshore after inundation by rising seas. Here, we use high-resolution Chirp subbottom data to re-evaluate distance to paleoshorelines at two terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene site clusters on the Northern Channel Islands and identify significant differences between the methods. Our results suggest that Chirp subbottom surveys offer more accurate reconstructions of ancient shorelines than bathymetric modelling and can produce more accurate reconstructions of ancient settlement patterns of terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene peoples along coastal and island environments around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people first lived in remote tropical seashores, they developed novel adaptations for living in these extreme environments, including the use of a specialized octopus lure device. The evidence for this fishing tradition now can be traced back as early as 1500–1100 BC in the Mariana Islands of Western Micronesia. New research has examined the artefacts of these compound lure devices, especially concerning the cut and drilled dorsum pieces of cowrie (Cypraea spp.) shells. Without this archaeological evidence, octopuses would have been undetected in the ancient deposits, and therefore a significant portion of past diet, innovative technology, and traditional practice would have been hidden from modern knowledge. The findings portray a broader and more realistic scene of ancient coastal communities, with implications beyond the confines of the specific island societies of the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salish Sea islands archaeology and precontact history are reviewed in light of Coast Salish history and the archaeological record. Our examination shows that (1) the ancestors of Salish people have occupied and used the archipelago continuously since its formation approximately 14,000 years ago; (2) archaeological work has not been conducted uniformly across the archipelago, resulting in places, landforms and times being differentially represented; and (3) as an inland seaway the Salish Sea basin is more geographically similar to the Mediterranean than the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key inquiry in Pleistocene human coastal adaptations asks whether coastlines were productive littoral patches that were consistently utilized over time or did fluctuating sea levels make them marginally productive patches that only supplemented terrestrially oriented foraging. Investigating this issue is challenging because rising glacio-eustatic sea levels submerged most evidence of Pleistocene coastal occupation. We address the question directly by integrating this analysis of open-air lithic assemblages with previously reported cave excavations on Barrow and adjacent islands in Western Australia. Well-dated, stratified cave deposits bracket occupation of Barrow Island from c. 50 ka to 7 ka, when rising sea levels severed pedestrian access to the mainland. Consequently, the open-air sites are a solely Pleistocene to Early Holocene record of land-use when the extensive North West Shelf was as a vast coastal plain. These assemblages offer evidence of human interaction with Pleistocene sea-level change that were undetectable from cave deposits alone. While local calcarenite dominates cave lithic assemblages, it is rare among surface artifacts that are predominately lithologies that originate either on the mainland, or from now-drowned sources. The distribution of surface materials is statistically patterned across the island reflecting broader land-use patterns across the coastal plain. Expedient flake and core tools made mostly of igneous material are prevalent on sites in the north, whereas curated food processing and fabrication tools, and sedimentary lithologies, are more common in the south. While this study bolsters findings from the cave excavations that early Aboriginal people regularly moved across the coastal plain targeting coastal resources, it sheds light on their access to inland resources and suggests they were linked to the continental mainland by mobility, social networks, and exchange. Additionally, this research links contemporary Aboriginal communities from northwest Australia to the continental islands of the North West Shelf. The Barrow Island Archaeology project received support from the Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation, involving Thalanyji Knowledge Holders and elders: Glenys Hayes, Anne Hayes, Robyn Davison, and Jane Hyland. • Barrow Island lithic scatters date solely to the Pleistocene – Early Holocene. • Lithological sources differ dramatically from artifacts in coeval cave occupations. • Analysis suggests three distinct lithic provisioning strategies. • Functional patterning may reflect temporal changes in land use. • Pleistocene coastal adaptations spanned vast, inundated coastal plains of Sahul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution Chirp sub-bottom data were obtained offshore from the Northern Channel Islands (NCI), California, to image submerged paleoshorelines and assess local uplift rates. Although modern bathymetry is often used for modeling paleoshorelines, Chirp data image paleoshorelines buried beneath sediment that obscures their seafloor expression. The NCI were a unified landmass during the last glacial maximum (LGM; ~20 ka), when eustatic sea level was ~120 m lower than present. We identified seven paleoshorelines, ranging from ~28 to 104 m in depth, across this now-submerged LGM platform. Paleoshoreline depths were compared to local sea-level curves to estimate ages, which suggest that some were reoccupied over multiple sea-level cycles. Additionally, previous studies determined conflicting uplift rates for the NCI, ranging from 0.16 to 1.5 m/ka. Our results suggest that a rate on the lower end of this range better fits the observed submerged paleoshorelines. Using the uplift rate of ~0.16 m/ka, we estimate that paleoshorelines formed during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3, the LGM, and the Younger Dryas stade are preserved on the NCI platform. These results help clarify uplift rates for the NCI and illustrate the importance of sub-bottom data for mapping submerged paleoshorelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Diadora is the property of Archaeological Museum in Zadar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

St. Catherines Island (Georgia, USA) was separated from the mainland at about 3000 BC, creating massive estuarine tidal marshes, which aboriginal foragers began exploiting almost immediately. Correlative optimal foraging modeling and four decades of archaeological fieldwork demonstrate how this baseline shellfishing economy evolved and persisted, with some local impacts on estuarine resource patches, but no detectable changes in diet breadth over several millennia. The first St. Catherines islanders were likely tribal-level, egalitarian societies living in economically self-sufficient, virtually sedentary, and politically autonomous villages. They made the earliest pottery in North America. Shortly after AD 800, early Mississippian populations developed into chiefdoms characterized by ranked, inherited social hierarchies, ascribing social status and wealth at birth. This significant shift took place wholly in the context of their long-standing shellfishing economy. In the face of dramatically increasing populations, St. Catherines islanders gradually intensified their shellfishing and, at about AD 1400, they began cultivating maize and other domesticates. Shellfishing offers generally higher return rates than corn farming, so the adoption of a maize-based economy was likely driven by political, social, and perhaps adaptive changes in the Mississippian world rather than strictly provisioning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Rainsford Island is an 11-acre island located in central Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The proximity to the City of Boston resulted in the Island being used as a quarantine facility, poorhouse, veteran''s hospital and school for wayward boys from 1737 to 1920. The Island consists of two linked topographic highs of glacial origin connected by a spit formed from reworked glacial material. The majority of the southern “high” is only slightly elevated above present-day sea level and was the site of a cemetery that serviced the quarantine facility, poorhouse and veteran''s hospital. Historical research indicates that more than 1100 persons were buried on Rainsford during this time. The records for the cemetery have been lost through fire and only four sandstone posts presently mark the cemetery. Our team sought to (1) assess shoreline change on the southern portion of the Island; (2) map the boundaries of the unmarked cemetery using ground-penetrating radar and (3) determine the vulnerability of the cemetery to coastal erosion caused by long-term sea-level rise and episodic flooding. Shoreline change analysis indicates that the southern portion of the island has eroded on the north-facing beach at a rate of 0.2m/yr while the south-facing beach has been stable. Topographic analysis of the landscape indicates that the central area of the southern portion is less than 1m above sea level with a slightly elevated rim approximately 2m above sea level. The ground-penetrating radar surveys indicated that the low-lying central portion exhibited evidence for burials. The results indicate that the cemetery is vulnerable to erosion and coastal flooding. A storm with a coastal storm surge of approximately 1m will result in flooding of the cemetery. The northern edge of the cemetery is extremely vulnerable to erosion and the first mapped burial on the northern side will be impacted in approximately 10 years. The southern edge of the cemetery is protected by horizontal and vertical accretion. As a result, conservation resources should be concentrated on the northern edge of the cemetery. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Isla de Cedros is a high, rocky island located on the Pacific Coast of Baja California 685 km south of San Diego. Its arid but temperate marine climate provides excellent conditions of archaeological preservation and visibility. Over the last five years, the Proyecto Arqueologico Isla de Cedros has documented a diverse and rich archaeological record on the island. In addition to many more recent deposits, at least two coastal shell middens have been identified that were occupied during the Early Holocene and Terminal Pleistocene. Initial investigation of these sites, including 14C dating and limited excavations at the largest and most intact example (PAIC-44, Cerro Pedregoso), provides an opportunity to address issues related to the nature and antiquity of maritime adaptations along the eastern Pacific Rim, and potentially the peopling of the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of the complexities of the Maaori sequence in New Zealand. It cultural responses to ecological change in a Polynesian country with monumental earthworks and a low level of precontact social stratification has been the subject for the analysis. The author also focused on the Northern South Island archaeological sequence. The archaeological record include a complex and highly visible settlement pattern of frequently monumental hill, coastal headland and lowland and other homeland areas.

Over the last 50 years, island and coastal archaeology has become a more visible and prominent avenue of study that has clear multidisciplinary linkages with the social and natural sciences. As Erlandson and Fitzpatrick ([3]) and Fitzpatrick, Rick, and Erlandson ([4]) outlined in papers published in previous issues of I JICA i , there are a number of important contributions that island and coastal regions have made to archaeology that set it apart, but also serve to drive future research. As we grapple with anthropogenic climate change, transformed marine-scapes, and rising sea levels, we would argue that island and coastal archaeology is essentially salvage archaeology. [Extracted from the article]

The article reflects on this periodical's focus on issues related to the significance of island and coastal archaeology. It talks about the development and growth of this periodical as an academic resource for archaeologists, anthropologists, and other scientists. The growing impact of island and coastal research is also discussed.

• The Estero Island Site, near Mound Key, s.w. Florida, is the largest on Estero Island. • Previous investigators relied on dating shells now known to yield spurious results. • Bayesian reanalysis provides an enhanced understanding of the site's chronology. • The site may have been a satellite village of the capital of the Calusa kingdom. • Reanalysis of previously obtained collections can enrich their research value. Dating sediments from island and coastal archaeological sites can prove challenging due to numerous factors. New information on the natural habitats and geochemistry of marine mollusks, as well as Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates, can help archaeologists generate new interpretations, not just for newly investigated sites, but also for older collections and datasets. Using the Estero Island Site, a large shell midden mound in southwest Florida, as a case study, we show that these new techniques and perspectives can add value to previously excavated collections. Specifically, our reinterpretation of the dates suggests that this site was occupied more recently than previously posited and that it may have played a larger role than formerly thought in the regional development of Calusa political complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]