Coastal Habitation Research Articles

‘In the shadows of a giant?’ A spatial analytical method for assessing coastal proximity using R: a case-study from the Bronze Age Saronic Gulf (Greece)

Highlights: The study introduces novel methods in spatial analysis to reinterpret long-standing archaeological theories about settlement distribution Spatial analysis reveals fluctuating proximity of Bronze Age settlements to the coast in the Saronic Gulf, influenced by socio-cultural and climatic changes. Shifts in settlement patterns and external factors like the rise of Argolic centers reshaped Kolonna's influence, reorienting it towards its hinterlands. Abstract: This study explores the interrelation between settlement dynamics and coastal proximity during the Bronze Age in the Saronic Gulf, utilising an innovative spatial analytical approach. By integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) and statistical methods in R, this paper analyses a dataset comprising 258 archaeological sites across diverse coastal and inland environments. The methodology uses the Movecost package for R to calculate least-cost paths, quantifying the ease of access to coastlines, and enabling a nuanced interpretation of settlement patterns over time. Results indicate significant shifts in settlement patterns linked to socio-economic, climatic, and political changes. The early phases, particularly during Early Helladic II, show an increased distance from the coast, suggesting a period less reliant on maritime activities despite the existence of extensive maritime networks. Conversely, Early Helladic III and Middle Helladic III–Late Helladic II periods mark a more pronounced coastal orientation; in the first case, it was probably connected to climatic instability and survival strategies and, in the second one, connected to socio-political change and economic opportunities. The analysis challenges traditional views of constant coastal habitation. Instead, it reveals a complex pattern where coastal proximity was not solely dictated by maritime capabilities: it was a strategic choice influenced by a myriad of factors, including security, agricultural potential, external trade relations and climatic change. The rise and fall of Kolonna, a significant urban centre, underscores these dynamics, as shifts in its regional influence correlate with broader Aegean power structures and climatic events. This paper contributes to the understanding of how ancient societies adapted their settlement strategies in response to changing socio-political circumstances. It also demonstrates the potential of R and spatial statistics as powerful tools for archaeological inquiry, providing new perspectives on traditional interpretations of ancient settlement patterns.

‘Here by the Sea and Sand’: Uninterrupted Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer Coastal Habitation Despite Considerable Population Growth

‘Here by the Sea and Sand’: Uninterrupted Hunter-Fisher-Gatherer Coastal Habitation Despite Considerable Population Growth

Hunting for Hide. Investigating an Other-Than-Food Relationship Between Stone Age Hunters and Wild Animals in Northern Europe

AbstractIn archaeological hunter-gatherer research, animals are primarily seen as food. Alternatively, they are proposed to serve as symbols and devices for social structuring of human societies. A growing body of literature in humanities and social sciences now looks into the role of animals as social and sentient co-beings. It is becoming increasingly clear that the roles of animals as other-than-food providers are severely overlooked in Mesolithic research. This article considers hide as a vital resource in northern hunter-gatherer societies. Hide processing and manufacture in ethnographic records from the circumpolar region and experimental investigations are presented, followed by an analytical review of archaeological data from mid-Holocene coastal habitation sites in Norway. The results show that hide work was a central activity, and that various stages of hide processing may have taken place at different sites. It is suggested that hide procurement and processing would have required close planning and scheduling. Based on ethnographic accounts it is suggested that the different processing stages, combining raw materials and animal qualities into man-made objects, are articulations of human-animal social entanglements. Identifying practices related to hide processing in the archaeological record and viewing them as expressions of human-animal relationships, can contribute to fuller insight into Stone Age hunter-gatherer societies.

Peopling Prehistoric Coastlines: Identifying Mid-Holocene Forager Settlement Strategies in Northern Norway

In circumpolar regions, coastlines offer rich constellations of diverse resources and have long been a focus of human habitation. Despite the rich archaeological records that are located along many northern coastlines, there is a relatively limited understanding of the range of factors that informed local settlement strategies. Northern Norway has one of the world’s longest and best-preserved archaeological records of coastal habitation due to post-glacial uplift. Occupation begins in the early Holocene and appears to peak in the mid-Holocene. Our aim in this paper is to investigate the constraints and opportunities that informed the mid-Holocene settlement patterns, between c. 5000 and 0 BC. We present new data that were generated by intensive field surveys and undertake a qualitative multi-scalar analysis of site-locational choices, evaluating the influences of geography, topography and seasonal resource availability. Having identified stretches of the rugged coast as uninhabitable, we proceeded with analyses of the rest of the coastline. Our results indicate that all major settlements were sited to provide safe boat landing, good vantage points and shelter from storms. From these habitation sites, boat technology would have provided flexible access to diverse resources that were available throughout the year, and within a limited travel radius. We also demonstrate that these settlement strategies contrast with the way that the same coastlines were inhabited by pioneering groups in the early Holocene but appear to have some similarities with mid-Holocene coastal settlement patterns in Newfoundland and the Aleutian Islands. Overall, our results suggest that the multiple resources available along northern coastlines often enabled populations to occupy relatively localized areas for long periods. Longer-range mobility and interaction may instead have been primarily driven by socio-political factors rather than subsistence needs.

Locating submerged prehistoric settlements: A new underwater survey method using water-jet coring and micro-geoarchaeological techniques

In the past few decades the field of submerged prehistory has produced important data highlighting ancient coastal habitation across the globe. Most prehistoric underwater sites are discovered by chance (e.g., by industry, fishermen or recreational divers). New methods for detecting submerged prehistoric settlements have been developed using sophisticated remote sensing devices, yet with limited success. Simple, practical, and inexpensive methods for locating submerged settlements remain rare. Over 60 years of underwater archaeology and submerged prehistory in Israel, specifically along the Carmel coast, has led to a model for locating and studying submerged settlements, based on sand removal by storms. This study aimed to take this model a step further by developing a new, inexpensive method to identify, locate and characterize submerged sites. We collected undisturbed paleosol cores from exposed areas as well as under a few meters of sand, using a newly developed water-jet core sampling system. The cores were analyzed using micro-geoarchaeological techniques initially developed on terrestrial sites. The rationale behind this methodology is based on established knowledge that where human settlements occur, sediments are enriched by specific mineralogical signatures (e.g., heated clay minerals) and anthropogenic micro-remain assemblages (e.g., phytoliths, ash pseudomorphs and dung spherulites). Additionally, micromorphology can assist in identifying micro-stratigraphic patterns typical of human settlements. We tested sediment cores in three underwater contexts: a) exposed prehistoric surfaces within two known Neolithic sites (Atlit-Yam and Neve Yam), b) exposed paleosols without visible archaeological remains (serving as a control), and c) as a blind test, a buried paleosol currently covered by 1–3 m of sand, where the existence of a site is unknown. In the cores taken from the exposed Neolithic settlements, the micro-geoarchaeological characterization showed clear anthropogenic signals (typical mineralogy, elevated micro-remain concentrations, micro-stratigraphy). In the paleosol control cores, there was an absence (or negligible presence) of anthropogenic signals. The ‘blind test’ at the sand-covered locality revealed sediments without anthropogenic enrichments (similar to the control paleosols), thus suggesting the absence of a submerged settlement in this specific location. The new method is time- and cost-effective and can easily be applied worldwide along the shallow continental shelf as well as in deep water. The new method will facilitate discovery of new underwater sites and provide selection criteria (e.g., where the highest anthropogenic signal exists) for investment in underwater excavations. Additionally, it can be used to check for anthropogenic signals in buried locations detected by remote sensing, and to understand the spatial organization of submerged sites.

Mapping coral reef environments

Coral reef environments support high levels of marine biodiversity, they are important sites for coastal habitation and they provide a range of goods and ecosystem services such as nearshore fisheries, economic revenue from tourism and breeding sites for seabirds and turtles. Mapping is a fundamental activity that underpins our understanding of coral reef environments and helps to shape policies in resource management and conservation. This is particularly the case for quantifying the area of landcover types associated with reef environments, including coral patches, seagrasses and mangroves, but also for monitoring how these change over time and modelling how spatial patterns apparent on reefs are related to environmental drivers. Field techniques and aerial photography have historically played a crucial role in mapping coral reef environments, which has recently seen a transition toward the processing of satellite remote sensing images. This paper examines a series of maps produced of Low Isles, the most mapped island on the Great Barrier Reef, to review historical methods for mapping coral reefs because of the critical importance of understanding how past maps were made, which determines appropriate uses to which they can be put. Recent advances and future opportunities for the application of mapping technologies to coral reefs are also evaluated, including the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms for airborne surveys, delivery of information through web-based platforms and improvements in the quality of information for making and presenting maps. Maps have transformed the way we have responded to both historic and contemporary coral reef problems. This timely review communicates how maps, and the fast growing technologies that are employed to produce them, are central to our understanding of coral reef environments. Recent advances that may drive exciting new environmental management tools are identified.

Reinvestigation of Kuumbi Cave, Zanzibar, reveals Later Stone Age coastal habitation, early Holocene abandonment and Iron Age reoccupation

ABSTRACTThe late Pleistocene and Holocene history of eastern Africa is complex and major gaps remain in our understanding of human occupation during this period. Questions concerning the identities, geographical distributions and chronologies of foraging, herding and agricultural populations — often problematically equated with the chronological labels ‘Later Stone Age (LSA)’, ‘Neolithic’ and ‘Iron Age’ — are still unresolved. Previous studies at the site of Kuumbi Cave in the Zanzibar Archipelago of Tanzania reported late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age (MSA) and LSA, mid-Holocene Neolithic and late Holocene Iron Age occupations (Sinclair et al. 2006; Chami 2009). Kuumbi Cave considerably extends the chronology of human occupation on the eastern African coast and findings from the site have been the basis for the somewhat contentious identification of both a coastal Neolithic culture and early chicken, a domesticate that was introduced to Africa from Asia. The site therefore warrants further investigation. Here we report on a new excavation of the Kuumbi Cave sequence that has produced a suite of 20 radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates. Our results suggest that the cave’s stratigraphy is complex, reflecting taphonomic processes that present interpretive and dating challenges. Our assessment of the stratigraphic sequence demonstrates three phases of habitation, two of which reflect terminal Pleistocene occupation and are characterised by quartz microliths, bone points and the exploitation of terrestrial and marine species, and one of which reflects later reoccupation by AD 600. In this latter phase, Kuumbi Cave was inhabited by a population with a locally distinct material culture that included idiosyncratic Tana or Triangular Incised Ware ceramics and medium-sized limestone stone tools, but with a subsistence economy similar to that of the late Pleistocene, albeit with more emphasis on marine foods and smaller terrestrial mammals. Our results suggest that Kuumbi Cave may have been unoccupied for much of the Holocene, after Zanzibar became an island. Our findings also place into question earlier identifications of domesticates, Asian fauna and a mid-Holocene Neolithic culture at the site.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Coastal GIS

This special issue of the ISPRS International Journal of Geographic Information about “Coastal GIS” is motivated by many circumstances. More than one-half of the world’s human population lives in coastal areas (within 200 kilometers of coast) as of 2000 [1]. The trend toward coastal habitation is expected to continue in the US with the total being 75 percent by 2025, meaning that coastal human–environment interactions will likely increase and intensify [2]. Geographic information systems (GIS) are being developed and used by technical specialists, stakeholder publics, and executive/policy decision makers for improving our understanding and management of coastal areas, separately and together as more organizations focus on improving the sustainability and resilience of coastal systems. Coastal systems—defined as the area of land closely connected to the sea, including barrier islands, wetlands, mudflats, beaches, estuaries, cities, towns, recreational areas, and maritime facilities, the continental seas and shelves, and the overlying atmosphere—are subject to complex and dynamic interactions among natural and human-driven processes. Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies, hosting valued human-built infrastructure and providing ecosystem services that sustain human well-being. This special issue of IJGI about coastal GIS presents a collection of nine papers that address many of the issues mentioned above. [...]

Palaeovegetation and climate oscillation of western Odisha, India: A pollen data-based synthesis for the Mid-Late Holocene

The last 6000 years are of particular interest to the understanding of the Earth System because the boundary conditions of the climate system did not change dramatically (in comparison to larger glacial–interglacial changes), and because abundant, detailed regional palaeoclimatic proxy records cover this period. Here, we present fossil pollen data and examine their climatic interpretation based on a 200-cm-deep trenched sedimentary profile from Mahanadi river side, located near the Barpahar hillock of Bargarh District, Odisha, which is influenced by the South-west and North-east monsoon. The 5840 y chronology of the sediment core is based on three 14C dates on soil samples. During 5840–4380 BP, dense tropical mixed deciduous forest consisting of Madhuca, Syzygium and Acacia flourished in the region along with Rhizophora under a warm and humid climate governed by high monsoonal activity. This phase of climate is associated with the Holocene Climatic Optimum which falls within the temporal range of 8000–5000 BP. Subsequently, an increase in humidity was discerned between 4380 and 3230 BP, as evident by increase in forest elements, under warm and relatively humid climate in response to an increased monsoon. The climate during 3230–1860 BP was mild and in general less humid than today. This climate event was inevitably influenced by a notable global cold event 4200 years ago, which is synchronous with the collapse of the world's first human empire in Mesopotamia. After this event, there was a return of more humid climate from 1860 to 1300 BP, marked by high values of Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Nymphoides, and fungal and trilete fern spores. This is further supported by the presence of Rhizophora and Sonneratia indicating high precipitation under the influence of coastal habitation. A striking signal of the Little Ice age (LIA) was observed since 1300 BP when the climate became relatively dry, as recognized in a sudden decline in major arboreals, along with high frequency of occurrence of dry herbs. This changing pattern of humidity was also reflected in the proportions of marshy/aquatic taxa, as well as ruderal taxa which is a result of human impact. The study will be helpful to display the palaeovegetation and climate in the region between Bengal and the Ganga plain.

Modern pollen assemblages of surface samples from Cherrapunjee and its adjoining areas, Meghalaya, northeast India

Cherrapunjee, the wettest place on Earth, holds two Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the maximum amount of rainfall in a single year and in a single month. A dataset of 65 surface pollen samples from Cherrapunjee, the gateway of the Indo-Burma hotspot region, was analyzed in order to explore the relationship between the modern pollen assemblage and contemporary vegetation patterns. The study reveals the occurrence of subtropical pine forest along with broad-leaved taxa with scattered patches of Pandanus during the recent past. Due to large scale deforestation and massive soil erosion (wettest area), the flora gradually converted into grassland under a xeric climate. Laitkynsew is enriched with evergreen forest consisting of Lauraceae, Mesua and Schima along with patches of Pandanus and Rhizophoraceae indicating high precipitation under the influence of coastal habitation. However, other areas such as the Duwan Sing Syiem Bridge show primary subtropical pine forest with broad-leaved taxa, which are gradually being replaced by Combretaceae, Ilex and Schima as indicated by their continuous presence in the sediments. Probably, the absence of Pandanus pollen suggests some regional impact. Occurrence of anthropic pollen of cereals, Brassicaceae, and Plantago indicates human activity in and around the study area. The presence of Diplodia, Glomus, Meliola, Pleospora, Xylaria and other fungal hyphae strongly indicates the massive soil erosion. Judging from the present data, long term vegetation and climate shifts induced a xerophytic trend from high altitude to lowland resulting from regional and global climate change. This xerophytic trend as observed through modern palynological records was well corroborated with the present situation.

Coastal Occupation at the GS-1 Site, Cook’s Bay, Mo‘orea, Society Islands

Excavations at the GS-1 site uncovered buried stratigraphic deposits of some depth. Site stratigraphy and artifact content suggests the area was first used as a coastal habitation prior to being covered by substantial colluvial deposits and in historic times, modern fill. Wood charcoal samples recovered from the site were identified to short lived species for AMS radiocarbon dating. The wood charcoal identifications were also used to identify indigenous versus introduced species in order to clarify the depositional events associated with the stratigraphic deposits. The lowest deposits at GS-1 date to as early as the 11th century Ad. Colluvial deposits overlying the lowest strata were definitively related to human activities, as Polynesian introductions are present in the wood charcoal assemblages. Finally, the frequency and types of artifacts recovered suggest the area served as an adze manufacturing locale through time.

Life at the end of the Holocene moist phase in south-east Arabia - the Late Neolithic site of Jebel Thanais 1 (JTH1)

The surface site of Jebel Thanais 1 is located in the Emirate of Sharjah (U.A.E.) at the western flank of the Jebel Faya/Jebel Buhais anticline structure. A dense scatter of lithic artefacts and fireplaces indicates Stone Age settlement activities in this area. Radiocarbon dates obtained from fireplaces date the occupation of the site to both the beginning and the very end of the fifth millennium cal. BC. During the second half of the fifth millennium the deterioration of climatic conditions in south-east Arabia had a noticeable impact on settlement patterns and subsistence strategies. While coastal habitation sites from this time are well known along the shores of the Oman peninsula, only a few poorly dated sites allow insights into habitation and raw material procurement strategies and lithic technology in the interior. Investigations into the spatial structure of the site and an analysis of lithic finds will contribute to a better understanding of this period.

Holocene Paleoshoreline and Paleoenvironmental History of Palau: Implications for Human Settlement

ABSTRACT Information from cores into the offshore reefs of Komebail Lagoon and into the coastal fringes of Babeldaob and neighboring islets allows the first well-constrained appraisal of the Holocene paleoshoreline history of Palau. Bulk subsidence of the island group since ∼5 kyr at a rate of ∼0.55 mm/yr is indicated jointly by both the offshore and the onshore datasets. Persistent subsidence of paleoshorelines since the initial human settlement of Palau has implications for the evolution of coastal paleoenvironments and the elevations of early coastal habitation sites with respect to present sea level. Discrepancies between radiocarbon dates for the earliest known archaeological sites and the earliest human impact on island environments in Palau and elsewhere in western Micronesia raise pointed questions about the timing of initial human occupation. Knowledge of the paleoshoreline history of Palau suggests that the disturbance indicators provide a more reliable guide to human arrival than the earliest settlement sites discovered to date.

‘Køkkenmøddinger’ (Shell Middens) in Denmark: a Survey

This paper presents a review of prehistoric shell midden sites (‘Køkkenmøddinger’) in Denmark. The form and structure of these sites, their contents, distributions, cultural associations, and chronology are discussed. It is concluded that they are not a unique type of coastal settlement but represent coastal, homebase settlements characterised by a dominance of shellfish in the cultural deposits. This is the only aspect by which they differ from the rest of the coastal habitation system. Shell midden sites seem to flourish in periods characterised by a rich marine biotope and coastal habitation can be seen as a direct reflection of variations/changes in the marine biotope.

Liquefaction and varve deformation as evidence of paleoseismic events and tsunamis. The autumn 10,430 BP case in Sweden

Coastal seismic events generate instantaneous changes in relative sea level (i.e. land level vs sea level). Tsunamis may cause disastrous damage to coasts and coastal habitation. Liquefaction and deformations of annually varved sediments provide information on paleoseismic events. The evidence for a major earthquake and associated tsunami waves in Sweden are explored. Thanks to the varve chronology, liquefaction structures and varve deformations caused by this event can be dated at the autumn 10,430 varve years BP. The magnitude is estimated at 8 (or more) on the Richter scale. The tsunami washed the previously blocked outlet of the Baltic free of icebergs and pack-ice so that marine water could suddenly invade the entire Baltic, forming the Yoldia Sea.

Climate change: impact on coastal habitation

Climate change: impact on coastal habitation