Underwater Exploration Seeks Evidence Of Early Americans

[Adsos Letter]

SOURCE: ScienceDaily (July 9, 2009)

— Where the first Americans came from, when they arrived and how they got here is as lively a debate as ever, only most of the research to date has focused on dry land excavations. But, last summer's pivotal underwater exploration in the Gulf of Mexico led by Mercyhurst College archaeologist Dr. James Adovasio yielded evidence of inundated terrestrial sites that may well have supported human occupation more than 12,000 years ago, and paved the way for another expedition this July.

As part of their 2008 findings, the researchers located and mapped buried stream and river channels and identified in-filled sinkholes that could potentially help document the late Pleistocene landscape and contain artifacts and associated animal remains from early human occupations. Continued exploration, Adovasio said, will be geared toward assessing a human presence on the now submerged beaches and intersecting river channels.

"There's no doubt that early North American occupations are underwater, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack," he said. "We have found the haystack; now we've got to find the needles."

That happens July 23-Aug. 7 when Adovasio leads a team of scientists representing leading institutions from government and higher education to St. Petersburg, Fla., where they'll resume their search for evidence of early Americans in an area 100-to-200 miles off Florida's west coast, now about 300 feet under water. For the second year, Adovasio will be assisted by co-principal investigator Dr. C. Andrew Hemmings of Mercyhurst College and the Gault School of Archaeological Research in Austin, Texas. This year as last, the primary funding source is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090709120654.htm

[scheming daemons]

1. Early Americans lived underwater?

:sarcasm:


;-)

[DCKit]

2. Yeah, it would help if they explained the lower sea level at the time.

You know, before Noah and the great flood.

[csziggy]

4. Yeah, that part was in the next paragraph after the ones quoted in the OP

The excavators should concentrate on the sinkholes - in Florida, sinkholes are the best places to find chert (similar to flint) of suitable size and quality to make into projectile points. Near my farm, adjoining Lake Miccosukee there is a sinkhole where a lot of Paleo-Indian artifacts have been found. Apparently it was a production center where the stone was 'mined' and points were manufactured. I suspect most of the points we have found on our property came from that early workshop.

[Adsos Letter]

5. No intentional editing on my part, other than to comply with the 4 paragraph rule.

And I usually just take 'em in sequence, hoping most DU'ers will read the whole article, if they find the OP of interest. :)

[csziggy]

7. Oh, I know - the 4 paragraph rule can be a pain

But some don't bother reading more than what is posted here, then make comments on incomplete info.

Thanks! I really appreciate your posts - especially since I have not kept up with archeology for many years.

If they are going to be doing more Florida Paleo-Indian excavation, maybe I should get back involved as a volunteer at the state museum. When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, all they were working on was the Columbus discovery and Spanish occupation periods, not what I was interested in. But I did some work with identifying pot sherds as an undergraduate and could maybe volunteering to work on that.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. This is fascinating!

I've often wondered what archeological treasures lie just underwater in the New World. After all, they found the lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt--why not something equally significant in the Western Hemisphere?

[csziggy]

6. The Alexandria lighthouse was sunk due to an historic earthquake

The coastal plains were flooded long before that, so any possible sites are covered by much more silt.

But if you look at a map of the US Southeast, the continental shelf that is less than 200 feet below sea level is huge, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. And most of that would have been above water level before the ice sheets melted at the end of the last Ice Age. Since much of what would have then been highlands was very dry during that period, the area on the now submerged coastal plains would have been better places to live.



For more information, here is a page that has some basic info:
http://home.comcast.net/~mfaught/continentalshelf/cont_shelf_principles.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Is it feasable to remove the silt?

I remember watching divers using a giant suction machine to remove small amounts of silt around wrecked ships to uncover treasures, etc. But from what you say, this would be a far more difficult operation.

[csziggy]

9. It's possible if it is not too thick

But it will depend on the location as to how deep it will be. I know that along the Pacific Northwest, some work was done with penetrating sonar and dredging. The dredging is not very desirable because it essentially destroys the site, but at the point in time I read about it the researchers had little budget and were just trying to prove there were sites at all it was the most cost effective method.

I have not read the journals, just the popular press releases so there could easily be much more info than I have seen with more detail on the methods used.

Oh - the other problem with using the suction is that the Paleo-Indian sites would have much smaller, lighter remains than the stone statues and amphora you see in the Mediterranean undersea sites. They would need some way to screen every bit of the material moved to make sure they don't lose those little artifacts.

[dysfunctional press]

10. at the end of the last ice age, sea levels were almost 400 ft. lower...

and many civilizations would probably have been organized near the shores- so it makes sense that lots of the evidence would now be underwater.