Coastal prehistory and submerged landscapes: Molluscan resources, shell-middens and underwater investigations

Bailey, Geoff; Hardy, Karen

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.020

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The oldest cases of relatively intensive exploitation of marine resources in general, and shellfish in particular, are documented in Middle Stone Age South African sites (Klein & Steele, 2013). Most of the remaining cases are dated from the early Holocene to the present (Bailey et al, 2013;Bailey & Hardy, 2021;Camara et al, 2017;Chenorkian, 1983;Hardy et al, 2016;Vernet & Tous, 2004). As far as West Africa is concerned, the Saloum Delta is the most investigated regional complex of shell middens.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Oudierin Drainage Archaeological Project: New Perspectives on the Saloum Delta Shell Middens (Senegal)

Holl

2022

Afr Archaeol Rev

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ponctué» de la formation des amas coquillierspériode d'exploitation relativement courte suivie de périodes d'abandon beaucoup plus longues -. Il est démontré en effet que l'exploitation des coquillages a commencé beaucoup plus tôt, il y a environ 10 000 ans au cours de l'Holocène Ancien, dans ce qui n'était clairement pas encore le delta du Saloum tel qu'on le connaît aujourd'hui. La formation de cimetière avec des tumulus a eu lieu pendant le 1 er tiers du IIe millénaire [1000-1300 CE] confirmant ainsi la séquence de Diorom-Boumak.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Oudierin Drainage Archaeological Project: New Perspectives on the Saloum Delta Shell Middens (Senegal)

Holl

2022

Afr Archaeol Rev

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“…The intertidal zone is of particular importance because it often exposes archaeological materials that can provide important clues to patterns of land use when sea levels were lower than present and to the presence of archaeological sites at greater depth and further offshore. Offshore studies of submerged terrestrial landscapes have often been neglected as they fall midway between the interests of terrestrial archaeologists and underwater archaeologists (Bailey and Hardy 2021). This poses challenges to interpretation because the archaeology present in underwater landscapes may represent materials deposited on a terrestrial land surface when sea levels were lower than present, or artefacts displaced from more recent onshore deposits by erosion, or coastal maritime activities that took place during the most recent mid-to-late Holocene sea-level highstand, for example construction of fish traps (Bailey et al 2020a:15-16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The integrated cultural landscape of North Gidley Island: Coastal, intertidal and nearshore archaeology in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia

Leach

Wiseman

O’Leary

et al. 2021

Australian Archaeology

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Recent studies conducted in Murujuga Sea Country have confirmed that Indigenous Australian archaeology does not end at the modern shore. Since the earliest peopling of the Australian continent, sea levels have fluctuated significantly, dropping as much as 130 m below modern mean sea-level during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). During this period, the continent (including Australia and New Guinea) represented a landmass one-third larger than present day Australia. As sea levels rose following the LGM, this extensive cultural landscape was inundated. The recent reporting of archaeological remains in a submerged context at Murujuga has enabled an integrated analysis of the archaeological landscape, based on direct evidence from archaeological sites that were originally formed on dry land, but are now located in intertidal and submerged environments. This study applies a landscape analysis centred on the submerged Cape Bruguieres channel site, and the Gidley Islands, where submerged, intertidal and coastal archaeology has been recorded. Aerial, pedestrian, and intertidal archaeological surveys were conducted to investigate the onshore and offshore landscape, providing new evidence with which to place the stone artefacts in the Cape Bruguieres channel into a wider context. Rock art engravings, grinding patches, quarries and upstanding stonessome of which are in the intertidal zonepoint to the use of a landscape that is now submerged and to the possibility of discovering new underwater sites. By integrating evidence from subtidal and intertidal contexts with the onshore record, we explore the cultural landscape above and below the 'waterline' as a continuum.

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“…Analysis of the constituents of shell midden deposits is a common research activity, but extrapolating data sampled from a small number of sites to the overall study area remains a methodological and interpretive challenge. Global research on shell middens is refining methods for linking evidence of settlement and resource use across a variety of settings (e.g., Astrup et al 2019; Bailey and Hardy 2021; Litster et al 2020; Parkington et al 2020; Sanger et al 2021). On the Northwest Coast of North America, shell middens are ubiquitous and have formative roles in cultural historical frameworks and zooarchaeological analyses (Ames and Maschner 1999; Cannon 2013).…”

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confidence: 99%

Estimating Volumes of Coastal Shell Midden Sites Using Geometric Solids

Gustas

McKechnie

Mackie

et al. 2022

Adv. archaeol. pract.

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Coastal shell midden deposits are a quintessential component of the archaeological record on the Pacific Northwest Coast. Despite their importance in informing the cultural and environmental histories of Indigenous peoples, research on shell middens has largely not sought to address the physical extent of these cultural deposits, which requires estimating shape, depth, and volume. Here, we present a new scalable geospatial model, designed to work with legacy survey data, for estimating midden volumes based on applying a regular geometric solid to sites with known extent and depth. We evaluate the accuracy of this technique using percussion core, total station, and lidar data from eight sites in Tseshaht territory on western Vancouver Island and three sites on the north coast of British Columbia (Canada). As part of the evaluation process of our results, we calculate uncertainty using subsurface core depth data and then compare generalized and modeled midden volume estimates. We demonstrate an accurate general model applied at the regional scale across a systematically surveyed landscape. This work presents the first landscape-scale measure of midden extents and volume within our study area, with relevance to historical ecology and settlement patterns.

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Coastal prehistory and submerged landscapes: Molluscan resources, shell-middens and underwater investigations

Cited by 9 publications

References 42 publications

The Oudierin Drainage Archaeological Project: New Perspectives on the Saloum Delta Shell Middens (Senegal)

The Oudierin Drainage Archaeological Project: New Perspectives on the Saloum Delta Shell Middens (Senegal)

The integrated cultural landscape of North Gidley Island: Coastal, intertidal and nearshore archaeology in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), Western Australia

Estimating Volumes of Coastal Shell Midden Sites Using Geometric Solids

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