Under the Sea: Archaeology and Palaeolandscapes of the Continental Shelf (Coastal Research Library, 20)

This book focuses on issues of method and interpretation in studies of submerged landscapes, concentrating on illustrations and case studies from around Europe with additional examples from other parts of the world. Such landscapes were once exposed as dry land during the low sea levels that prevailed during the glacial periods that occupied most of the past million years and provided extensive new territories for human exploitation. Their study today involves underwater investigation, using techniques and strategies which are clearly set out in these chapters. The underwater landscape provides a rich source of information about the archaeology of human settlement and long-term changes in environment, climate and sea-level. This book highlights how such information can be revealed and interpreted. The examples presented here and the focus on techniques make this book of worldwide relevance. Chapters describe examples of underwater archaeological investigation as well as collaboration with offshore industries and legal, management and training issues relating to underwater cultural heritage. Such studies point to the significance of this drowned landscape, and readers are invited to consider its human impact in terms of past settlement and population dispersal through palaeolandscape reconstruction and interpretation in relation to broader themes in human prehistory. This volume is based on work from COST Action SPLASHCOS, a four-year multi-disciplinary and multi-national research program supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) and has something to benefit all those with an interest in the sea floor of the continental shelf and the archaeological and social impact of sea-level change, including archaeologists, marine scientists, geographers, cultural-heritage managers, commercial and governmental organisations, policy makers and interested members of the public. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Archaeology and Palaeolandscapes of the Continental Shelf: An Introduction....Pages 1-17 Front Matter....Pages 19-19 Survey Strategies and Techniques in Underwater Geoarchaeological Research: An Overview with Emphasis on Prehistoric Sites....Pages 21-37 Relative Sea Level Rise, Palaeotopography and Transgression Velocity on the Continental Shelf....Pages 39-51 Joint Explorations of the Sunken Past: Examples of Maritime Archaeological Collaboration Between Industry and Academia in the Baltic....Pages 53-63 The Late Mesolithic Site of Falden, Denmark: Results from Underwater Archaeological Fieldwork and a Strategy for Capacity-Building Based on the SPLASHCOS Mission....Pages 65-84 Atlit-Yam: A Unique 9000 Year Old Prehistoric Village Submerged off the Carmel Coast, Israel – The SPLASHCOS Field School (2011)....Pages 85-102 Front Matter....Pages 103-103 Submerged Pottery Neolithic Settlements off the Coast of Israel: Subsistence, Material Culture and the Development of Separate Burial Grounds....Pages 105-130 Hjarnø Sund: An Eroding Mesolithic Site and the Tale of two Paddles....Pages 131-143 Fished up from the Baltic Sea: A New Ertebølle Site near Stohl Cliff, Kiel Bay, Germany....Pages 145-154 Investigations of Submerged Palaeoshorelines in the Kiel Fjord....Pages 155-163 Submerged Settlement in the Öresund, Western Scania, Southernmost Sweden....Pages 165-175 Front Matter....Pages 177-177 Prospecting for Holocene Palaeolandscapes in the Sound of Harris, Outer Hebrides....Pages 179-195 Early Holocene Landscape Development and Baltic Sea History Based on High-Resolution Bathymetry and Lagoonal Sediments in the Hanö Bay, Southern Sweden....Pages 197-209 Tributaries of the Elbe Palaeovalley: Features of a Hidden Palaeolandscape in the German Bight, North Sea....Pages 211-222 The Wadden Sea of North-West Germany: An Intertidal Environment of High Archaeological Research Potential....Pages 223-231 Sacred Landscapes and Changing Sea Levels: New Interdisciplinary Data from the Early Neolithic to the Present in South-Eastern Sicily....Pages 233-253 Archaeological Potential of the Anchialine Caves in Croatia....Pages 255-266 Front Matter....Pages 267-267 The Role of the Submerged Prehistoric Landscape in Ground-Truthing Models of Human Dispersal During the Last Half Million Years....Pages 269-283 The Northern Coasts of Doggerland and the Colonisation of Norway at the End of the Ice Age....Pages 285-303 Doggerland and the Lost Frontiers Project (2015–2020)....Pages 305-319 Front Matter....Pages 267-267 Postglacial Human Dispersal and Submerged Landscapes in North-West Europe....Pages 321-334 Aegean Pleistocene Landscapes Above and Below Sea-Level: Palaeogeographic Reconstruction and Hominin Dispersals....Pages 335-359 Africa-Arabia Connections and Geo-Archaeological Exploration in the Southern Red Sea: Preliminary Results and Wider Significance....Pages 361-373 To the Islands: The Archaeology of the Archipelagos of NW Australia and its Implications for Drowned Cultural Landscapes....Pages 375-387 Front Matter....Pages 389-389 Education and Engagement: Developing Understanding and Appreciation of Submerged Prehistoric Landscapes....Pages 391-402 Arch-Manche: Using Archaeological, Palaeoenvironmental, Historic and Artistic Resources in Coastal Management....Pages 403-413 The SeArch Project: Towards an Assessment Methodology and Sustainable Management Policy for the Archaeological Heritage of the North Sea in Belgium....Pages 415-424 The History of Industry-Linked Research in English Waters: Lessons for the Future....Pages 425-436