13 research outputs found
Ireland: Submerged Prehistoric Sites and Landscapes
Evidence of Ireland's drowned landscapes and settlements presently comprises 50 sites spread across the entire island. These comprise mainly intertidal find spots or small collections of flint artefacts. A handful of fully subtidal sites are known, generally from nearshore regions and consisting, with one exception, of isolated single finds. Evidence of organic remains is also sparse, with the exception of Mesolithic and Neolithic wooden fish traps buried in estuarine sediments under Dublin. The relatively small number of sites is probably due to lack of research as much as taphonomic issues, and thus the current evidence hints at the potential archaeological record which may be found underwater. Such evidence could contribute to knowledge of the coastal adaptations and seafaring abilities of Ireland's earliest inhabitants. Nonetheless, taphonomic considerations, specifically relating to Ireland's history of glaciation, sea-level change and also modern oceanographic conditions likely limit the preservation of submerged landscapes and their associated archaeology. Realistically, the Irish shelf is likely characterised by pockets of preservation, which makes detection and study of submerged landscapes difficult but not impossible. A range of potential routes of investigation are identifiable, including site-scale archaeological survey, landscape-scale seabed mapping, archival research and community engagement
Great Britain: the intertidal and underwater archaeology of Britain’s submerged landscapes
The submerged landscapes around Great Britain are extensive and would have offered productive territory for hunting, gathering, exploitation of aquatic and marine resources, and—in the final stages of postglacial sea-level rise—opportunities for agriculture. They would also have provided land connections to continental Europe and opportunities for communication by sea travel along now-submerged palaeocoastlines and river estuaries. Most of the archaeological material has been discovered in intertidal or shallow water conditions, but there are also discoveries in deeper water, with dates ranging from earliest human presence nearly one million years ago up to the establishment of modern sea level. Some later material is present where coastlines have continued to sink in more recent millennia. Intertidal sites are especially well represented because of relatively large tidal ranges and shallow offshore gradients on many coastlines. These are often associated with remains of submerged forests, which are periodically exposed at low tide and then covered up again by movements of sand. Some of the most distinctive intertidal finds are the human and animal footprints preserved in intertidal sediments in many locations, especially at Goldcliff East. The earliest, at Happisburgh, are dated between 0.78 and 1 Ma. Fully submerged sites include the Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff with its worked timbers, and the Middle Stone Age artefacts from offshore aggregate Area 240 along with well-preserved ice age fauna and environmental indicators. Pioneering work using oil industry seismic records has produced detailed reconstructions of the submerged landscape, and this is being followed up by new work involving targeted acoustic survey and coring of sediments
Settlements and Seafaring: Reflections on the Integration of Boats and Settlements Among Marine Foragers in Early Mesolithic Norway and the Yámana of Tierra del Fuego
Southwest Norway at the Pleistocene/ Holocene Transition: Landscape Development, Colonization, Site Types, Settlement Patterns
This is an electronic version of an article published in the Norwegian Archaeological Review© 2003 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Norwegian Archaeological Review is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00293650307293.This article contributes a western Norwegian perspective to the ongoing
debate on the timing and nature of the earliest colonization of northern
Europe. Despite there being a theoretical possibility of Late Glacial
settlement, currently available data indicate a populating of the area around
the termination of the Pleistocene ca. 10,000 (uncalibrated) yr BP. The
earliest radiocarbon date in southwest Norway so far, 9750 BP, is only a
terminus ante quem. Environmental, economic, technological and social
factors involved as a result of the colonization process are discussed briefly,
and trends in the archaeological record are emphasized and commented on.
The economy reflected by the first complete annual subsistence patterns is
interpreted as having been logistically mobile, highly adaptive and generally
of opportunistic character. Particular attention is paid to Early Preboreal
coastal and inland settlement of the ‘Boknafjord’ and ‘Myrvatn/Fløyrlivatn’
groups, the latter characterized by well-preserved site structures such as tent
rings and hearths providing high-resolution radiocarbon dates and palaeobotanical
evidence