Paleoshorelines and Prehistory: An Investigation of MethodArchaeologists have always been concerned with the relationship between the sites they study and the environments in which the sites are found. Since the end of the Pleistocene Era, sea levels have risen at least 120 meters, a factor that has considerable effect on many archaeological sites. Paleoshorelines and Prehistory: An Investigation of Method discusses the various processes that may affect coastal sites, or inland sites on shallow coastal plains, and presents a variety of methods that have been developed to reconstruct the shoreline at the time the sites were occupied. The focus of the chapters is on processes affecting coastal sites in the Americas, although the methods discussed are applicable to archaeologists worldwide. The book will also guide archaeologists in designing surveys to discover site locations, whether these are now inland or underwater. All archaeologists and students in archaeology and geology will find a tremendous wealth of useful information in this remarkable volume. |
Contents
PALEOSHORELINES AND THE PREHISTORY | 15 |
MAINLAND | 53 |
PALEOSHORELINES AND THE SAMBAQUIS OF BRAZIL | 83 |
UNDERWATER | 101 |
INUNDATED PREHISTORIC SITES IN APALACHEE BAY | 117 |
xii | 147 |
PALEOSHORELINES AND PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENTS | 171 |
MAINLAND | 187 |
SPACE SHUTTLE IMAGERY OF RECENT CATASTROPHIC | 215 |
CONCLUSION | 237 |
Common terms and phrases
Anthropol Apalachee Bay archaeological sites Arctic artifacts Aucilla Aucilla River Bahamas Barbuda beach ridges Cape Espenberg Caribbean Ceramic Chernabura chert Choris Peninsula coastal coastline Codrington continental shelf cultural deposits elevation ENSO environments erosion eustatic excavations facies Figure Fitzhugh Florida formation Geol geological glacial Gulf of Mexico Highlands Holocene isobase isostatic Johnson karst Keegan Labrador coast lagoonal land late Pleistocene Lesser Antilles limestone located marine limit Niño northern occupation offshore outcrops outer Shumagin Islands Paleoindian paleoshoreline Palmetto Point period plain post-Saladoid prehistoric sites present sea level progradation Quaternary radiocarbon ages radiocarbon dates Ray Hole Spring reconstruction region relative sea level River RSL curves RSL history Saladoid sambaquis samples sand Santa Santa River São Paulo sea level change sea level rise sediment seismic settlement patterns shoreline Shumagin Islands Simeonof sinkhole spit submergence Suguio surface survey tectonic uplift terraces Unit uplift rate Winslow