Prevalence of feral swine disturbance at important archaeological sites over a large landscape in Florida

Richard M Engeman,John B Allen,Joseph S Meyer

doi:10.1038/srep40287

Abstract

Feral swine are globally known as one of the most destructive invasive vertebrates, damaging native habitats, native plants and animals, agriculture, infrastructure, spreading diseases. There has been little quantification on their disturbance to archaeological sites across a broad landscape. Over 6 years we inspected 293 significant archaeological sites for swine disturbance across a vast area. We found a 42% prevalence of swine disturbance among all sites, with prevalence not distinguishable among prehistoric sites, historic sites, and sites with both components. The areas of disturbance mapped within three historic homestead sites showed 5–26% of total site surface area rooted. Disturbance was not evident upon re-inspection of one of these sites after 18 months, indicating how evidence of disturbance can be obscured in this environment. Thus, our observed 42% prevalence of disturbance should be considered a minimum for disturbance occurring through time. Artifacts depths were <10 cm of the surface at 85% of the sites and <20 cm of the surface for 90% of the sites. Feral swine rooting commonly exceeds 20 cm in depth, especially in soft sandy substrates typical of Florida, making the great majority of the studied sites highly vulnerable to artifact damage or displacement.

Highlights

The Air Force is responsible for protecting these sites under various State and Federal laws and federal regulations such as the Archaeological Resource Protection Act and the National Historic Preservation Act
The 293 significant sites surveyed represented the diversity in types of archaeological sites in the region with 104 prehistoric sites (36%), 103 historic sites (35%), and 86 sites having both prehistoric and historic components (29%)
From June of 2010 to February 2016, we documented feral swine disturbance to archaeological sites across the breadth of Eglin AFB, and these observations provided an assessment of risk potential for feral swine to harm archaeological sites across this large area

Summary

Introduction

The Air Force is responsible for protecting these sites under various State and Federal laws and federal regulations such as the Archaeological Resource Protection Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The base’s stewardship obligation towards cultural sites is addressed in part by an active site monitoring program that checks site conditions throughout the year to safeguard sites when they may be impacted by a variety of land use threats, including military training activities, impacts from forestry management such as prescribed burns, and recreational use. The base’s stewardship obligation towards cultural sites is addressed in part by an active site monitoring program that checks site conditions throughout the year to safeguard sites when they may be impacted by a variety of land use threats, including military training activities, impacts from forestry management such as prescribed burns, and recreational use This monitoring program was augmented in 2010 to include documentation on whether feral swine disturbance was present within each visited site, and from 2010–2016, 293 of the base’s 579 significant archaeological sites were examined for feral swine disturbance. We report here on the results of these surveys and the implications for protecting archaeological sites in areas where feral swine occur

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion