Underwater archaeology today

[stan]

Whoopeee!

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbc ... 6611020351

Charlie, Can you swim?
Maybe you and Frank could go along!

[Minimalist]

It's certainly refreshing that someone is looking.

[Guest]

We expect to find the earliest human occupation in the Americas," he said. "The reason we're looking on the coast is that it's likely if people were hear early, they were exploring the resources. We will be reconstructing that landscape as it was 15,000 to 20,000 years ago."

this should be interesting but what do they expect to find? polynesian or aborigine artifacts? what evidence is leading them to this particular spot?

since i do not study the mexican or american area i am not up to speed on the finds that would lead to this exploration.

[Beagle]

what do they expect to find?

From what I understand in reading the article, Ballard is measuring the depth of the Gulf in this one area. This will give a more exact picture of the ancient shoreline when the sea level was lower. Knowing this will open the way for any future marine archaeology.

Also he hopes to find a salt dome. Finding that would signal the high possibility of ancient american settlement, since salt was such an important commodity.

[Barracuda]

Pretty boring diving in the Gulf. My exprience there is just miles of sandy sea bottom, and poor visibility.

At least the water is warm in summer

[Guest]

Also he hopes to find a salt dome. Finding that would signal the high possibility of ancient american settlement

just a question, doesn't most of the gulf border mexico? wouldn't that be ancient mexican settlement? or should i conclude that the same people inhabited both areas?

i am not being flippant just curious as to what the accepted viewpoint is on the inhabitants of the area would be.

[stan]

That's a good point, Arch.
Except that those people are rather hypothetical at this time.

I thought it was interesting that Ballard's speculations about human habitation only extended back to 15k years or so, though.

[Beagle]

The Americas comprise North America, Meso-America, and South America. I was using the word America in the continental sense.

[War Arrow]

Hmmm. I seem to remember Gr*h*m H*nc*ck (pardon my language) performing a televisual investigation of underwater roads in the Gulf, just south of Florida (I think, it was a while ago and I was laughing a lot) - uncannily straight flat strips of stone which turned out to have been formed by natural means. I gather from looking at the above link that this is something different.

There's been a fair bit of talk about kelp highways and suchlike around these parts of late, although if there's anything in that idea I suspect this might not be the right side of the continent to look for that kind of thing.

[Roberto]

The Gulf of Mexico covers a lot territory, Mexico plus the entire Southeastern United States. But what Ballard is looking for probably has nothing to due with any civilization or people out of Mexico. I seem to recall that the Flower Garden Banks are on the bottom edge of the continental shelf where they have a lot of exotic marine life living around seeps, and chimmey seeps coming out of the floor. Probably methane, but I would have to double check exactly what types of seeps they are right now.
From eastern Texas into Louisiana salt domes predominate along the floor of the Gulf. In Southwest Louisaina, around Avery Island some large salt domes exist where early man extracted salt, as well as evidence of early mammouth's coming to the areas to lick salt. In fact they have found a lot of early mammal bones around the salt domes which went extinct around the same time as mammouth.
In the past few years, seismographic work for the oil companies have traced river systems on the Gulf floor as they meander toward the continental shelf and drop off, where the coast line was before the water rose to it's present state around 4000 B.C. And they have found several heavy deposits of shell material with bone material that they strongly expect are shell middens deposited by early man. It would be very interesting to find an early village or perhapS mounds along some of these river valleys. Along our present coast line we have shell middens and mound complexes dating around 1500 to 2000 B.C. Early Archaic, Poverty Point, all around the same time frame as the Olmec in Mexico. So we know early man was along the coast line prior to sea level rising, but of course these would be heavily covered by sedimentation and too deep for any type of archaeolgical work right now.
If Ballard can do his thing, follow the coast line as it existed prior to 4000 B.C., find where these early rivers dumped into the Gulf he most likely will find more shell middens. Early man was most definitely coming to the coast for the abundant marine life, as well as salt extraction. But I can't see Ballard finding any type of salt mine, or cave systems like it mentions in this article. This is all pre-pottery of course. Pottery doesn't arrive in the Southestern U.S. until 1500 B.C. with Poverty Point Culture. I've no doubt that early man was along the continental shelf prior to 4000 B.C., perhaps even 15 to 20,000 years ago, but up to now we have not had the technology to search for this archaeologically. Ballard plans to do a research approach much like he did in the Black Sea, which is going to be TRUELY FASCINATING!

[Guest]

The Gulf of Mexico covers a lot territory

i see my error, i was thinking of the wrong side of the continent.

I thought it was interesting that Ballard's speculations about human habitation

maybe i should ask, where do they suppose these people came from? and did they make that one point their landing site and migrated south from there?

[stan]

I'll try answer Arch's last question...
At this point, the existence of any people there at all is speculative. But Roberto points out that there are
ancient shell middens around Mississippi.

But as to who "these people" might have been, it partially depends on the dates of any finds. If its true that the
Gulf rose about 4000 bc, (to quote Roberto), the population might have included paleo indians going back to Clovis and beyond, but how far beyond is what everybody's trying to figure out now, i.e., Charlie Hatchett and others.

Since noone really knows the migration patterns back that far,
it' s impossible to say who these hypothetical people were related to....

regards

[Guest]

But Roberto points out that there are
ancient shell middens around Mississippi.

since i am not a marine archaeologist, what would 'shell middens' prove? the ancient coastline?
i have an atlas of world archaeology here by paul bahn and he mentions north america so i will lookit up and see what he says then get back to you.

[Minimalist]

'Midden' is an old English word for a household rubbish dump and this is the meaning used by archaeologists. Middens are places where food remains, such as shellfish and animal bones, ash and charcoal from fires, and broken or worn out tools were thrown away, dumped or buried. Middens can be of Mäori, European or other origin. Middens are one of the most common kind of archaeological site found in New Zealand.

[Guest]

thank you and to stan.

In the past few years, seismographic work for the oil companies have traced river systems on the Gulf floor as they meander toward the continental shelf and drop off, where the coast line was before the water rose to it's present state around 4000 B.C.

this i find interesting