Global experience in locating submerged prehistoric sites and their relevance to research on the American continental shelves

Abstract

Over 3000 seabed prehistoric sites globally have been discovered by archaeologists. Sites submerged by deglaciating rise of the sea and showing hominin remains of various dates have been found off the coasts of China, Japan, South Africa, throughout the Mediterranean, off the coasts of all European countries, and off American coasts. The age range is from 5000 years to over 300,000 years. Most sites date from the post-glacial 20,000 years. The majority of submerged sites were found by chance and then studied by academic researchers. The archaeology of finds and stratified deposits has been integrated into geophysical and sedimentary mapping of the shelf, including paleo-environmental landscapes. The development of marine-based diets and exploitation of coastal marine resources at dates earlier than 5000 BP can only be studied at submerged prehistoric sites. Seabed sites can preserve organics such as wood, bone, and textiles. The evidence for coastwise migration or diffusion of populations has been considered on submerged shelves such as the southern Red Sea, SE Asia, and Beringia. Most known deposits, especially stratified deposits, are on broad low gradient continental shelves, usually where the terrain is undulating, or in large coastal inlets, marginal seas, ria valleys, and in the shelter of islands or archipelagos. No sites have been found in the global tropical zone. Research in some countries has been promoted by collaboration between marine geoscience institutions and archaeological institutes and university departments. Priorities of research targets in Europe are human response to sea level change, origins of marine resource exploitation, migration routes on the continental shelf, early seafaring, earliest phases of coastal sedentism, and paleo-landscapes. Research on the seabed has proved that a wide range of fundamental questions related to archaeology and paleo-anthropology can already be studied efficiently underwater with valuable academic results.