Comparison of the maritime Sites and Monuments Record with side‐scan sonar and diver surveys: A case study from Rathlin Island,Ireland

Rathlin Island, off the north coast of Ireland, has a history of settlement and seafaring from the Late Mesolithic period to the present day. The maritime Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) for Rathlin indicates many wrecking incidents. In 1999, a reconnaissance side‐scan sonar survey confirmed the presence of 46 targets of possible archaeological potential around Rathlin Island. Thirteen of these anomalies were positively identified as shipwrecks. Of the remaining 33 targets, nine were dived on in order to ground‐truth the geophysical data. A successful and rapid methodology of ground‐truthing side‐scan sonar data for archaeological purposes was developed. The results confirmed the presence of a Danforth Anchor at one site, while the remaining anomalies were identified as geological features. The results from the side‐scan survey and diver‐truthing exercise enhanced the existing maritime SMR. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Late Quaternary denudation of the Alps,valley and lake fillings and modern river loads

The coastal areas of the island of Delos, located at the centre of the Cyclades archipelago (Greece), are rich in submerged Hellenistic archaeological vestiges. This submersion can be explained by changes in relative sea-level: the recent 14C datings of submerged beachrock occurrences of Delos and the nearby islands of Mykonos and Rhenia suggest that the sea level was at about -2.5 m (± 0.5 m) around 400 BC [1, 2]. Such result has enabled to confirm and refine Negris'early-twentieth-century hypothesis that the submersion can be accounted for by the relative sea-level rise.

From this result, together with bathymetric maps, archaeological studies and stratigraphic data, the Hellenistic coastal landscapes on the western side of Delos have been reconstructed.

The Sacred Harbour (including the Agora of the Competaliasts) and the “Pointe des Pilastres” landscapes (located to the South) resembled those of the current Greek harbours: the paved walkways or esplanades bordering buildings or shops were separated from the sea by a beach onto which boats were drawn. The landscape of the “Maisons au flanc de la Colline” sector (located to the North) seems to have been different. These houses were located on a rocky platform, in a sector exposed to the north swell.     

A new early Holocene shoreline displacement record for Blekinge,southern Sweden,and implications for underwater archaeology

We present evidence of a submerged early Holocene landscape off the Blekinge coastline in the Baltic Sea, dating to the Yoldia Sea and Initial Littorina Sea Stages when the water level was lower than at present. ¹⁴C dated wood remains obtained by surveillance diving and new archaeological findings in combination with bathymetric analyses and interpolations between other sites across the Baltic Sea were used for refinement of the shoreline displacement history of the region. The new results reveal a Yoldia Sea lowstand level at 20 m b.s.l., a subsequent Ancylus Lake highstand at 3 m a.s.l., and then a period of relatively stable water level at about 4 m b.s.l. during the Initial Littorina Sea Stage, several metres lower than previously concluded. The refined shoreline displacement record was used for palaeo‐reconstructions of the study area during four key periods, the Yoldia Sea lowstand phase, the Ancylus Lake transgression phase, the Ancylus Lake highstand phase and the Initial Littorina Sea lowstand phase, using elevation data and map algebra functions. A flow accumulation algorithm was used for reconstruction of the now submerged prehistoric river network in order to identify areas of high archaeological potential. Our revised shoreline displacement record, and especially its lowstand period during the Initial Littorina Sea Stage around 9500–8500 cal. a BP, raises future demands not only for specific archaeological shallow‐water surveys down to 4 m b.s.l. in the area, but also for a renewed cultural heritage management strategy. The results of this study fill an important gap in the early Holocene part of the shoreline displacement history of Blekinge, contributing to its completion since the deglaciation, which is unique for the Baltic Sea.     

Influence of benthic sediment transport on cold‐water coral bank morphology and growth: the example of the Darwin Mounds,north‐east Atlantic

The Darwin Mounds are small (up to 70 m in diameter), discrete cold‐water coral banks found at c. 950 m water depth in the northern Rockall Trough, north‐east Atlantic. Formerly described in terms of their genesis, the Darwin Mounds are re‐evaluated here in terms of mound growth processes based on 100 and 410 kHz side‐scan sonar data. The side‐scan sonar coverage is divided into a series of acoustic facies representing increasing current speed and sediment transport/erosion from south to north: pockmark facies, ‘mounds within depressions’ facies, Darwin Mound facies, stippled seabed facies and sand wave facies. Mound morphometric changes are quantified and show a south‐to‐north divergence from an inherited morphology, reflecting the outline of coral‐colonized fluid escape structures, to developed, downstream elongated, elevated mound forms. It is postulated that increasing current speeds and bedload sand transport favour mound growth and development by a process of enhanced sand sedimentation within mounds due to current deceleration by frictional drag around coral colonies. Comparisons are made with similar growth processes attributed to comparably sized cold‐water coral mounds in the Porcupine Seabight, offshore Ireland.     

Emergence of Civilization,Changes in Fluvio‐Deltaic Style,and Nutrient Redistribution Forced by Holocene Sea‐Level Rise

During the mid‐Holocene, the first large‐scale civilizations emerged in lower alluvial systems after a marked decrease in sea‐level rise at 7–6 kyr. We show that as the landscapes of deltas and lower alluvial plains adjusted to this decrease in the rate of relative sea‐level rise, the abundance and location of resources available for human exploitation changed as did the network of waterways. This dynamic environmental evolution contributed to archaeological changes in the three fluvio‐deltaic settings considered herein: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Huang He in China. Specifically, an increase in the scale and intensity of agricultural practice, and the focussing of power toward a single city can be interpreted as responses to these environmental changes. Other archaeological observations, and the cultural trajectories leading to the formation of the Primary States also need to be considered in light of these evolving landscapes.     

A submerged pine forest from the early Holocene in the Mecklenburg Lake District,northern Germany

For the first time, evidence of a submerged pine forest from the early Holocene can be documented in a central European lake. Subaquatic tree stumps were discovered in Lake Giesenschlagsee at a depth of between 2 and 5 m using scuba divers, side‐scan sonar and a remotely operated vehicle. Several erect stumps, anchored to the ground by roots, represent an in situ record of this former forest. Botanical determination revealed the stumps to be Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) with an individual tree age of about 80 years. The trees could not be dated by means of dendrochronology, as they are older than the regional reference chronology for pine. Radiocarbon ages from the wood range from 10 880±210 to 10 370±130 cal. a BP, which is equivalent to the mid‐Preboreal to early Boreal biozones. The trees are rooted in sedge peat, which can be dated to this period as well, using pollen stratigraphical analysis. Tilting of the peat bed by 4 m indicates subsidence of the ground due to local dead ice melting, causing the trees to become submerged and preserved for millennia. Together with recently detected Lateglacial in situ tree occurrences in nearby lakes, the submerged pine forest at Giesenschlagsee represents a new and highly promising type of geo‐bio‐archive for the wider region. Comparable in situ pine remnants occur at some terrestrial (buried setting) and marine (submerged setting) sites in northern central Europe and beyond, but they partly differ in age. In general, the in situ pine finds document shifts of the zonal boreal forest ecosystem during the late Quaternary.     

High‐resolution bathymetric mapping reveals subaqueous glacial landforms in the Arctic alpine lake Tarfala,Sweden

In Arctic alpine regions, glacio‐lacustrine environments respond sensitively to variations in climate conditions, impacting, for example,glacier extent and rendering former ice‐contact lakes into ice distal lakes and vice versa. Lakefloors may hold morphological records of past glacier extent, but remoteness and long periods of ice cover on such lakes make acquisition of high‐resolution bathymetric datasets challenging. Lake Tarfala and Kebnepakte Glacier, located in the Kebnekaise mountains, northern Sweden, comprise a small, dynamic glacio‐lacustrine system holding a climate archive that is not well studied. Using an autonomous surface vessel, a high‐resolution bathymetric dataset for Lake Tarfala was acquired in 2016, from which previously undiscovered end moraines and a potential grounding line feature were identified. For Kebnepakte Glacier, structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its shape from photographs taken in 1910 and 1945. Combining these methods connects the glacial landform record identified at the lakefloor with the centennial‐scale dynamic behaviour of Kebnepakte Glacier. During its maximum 20^th century extent, attained c. 1910, Kebnepakte Glacier reached far into Lake Tarfala, but had retreated onto land by 1945, at an average of 7.9 m year^–1. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochronology and Geomorphology of the Pioneer Archaeological Site,Upper Snake River Plain,Idaho, USA

Pioneer is an open‐air, stratified, multicomponent archaeological site located in the upper Snake River Plain of southeastern Idaho, USA. Block excavations provided an opportunity to contribute to the Late Quaternary geomorphic history of the Big Lost River drainage and provide geochronological context of archaeological components at the site. The stratigraphic sequence is interpreted as reflecting multiple depositional episodes and five soil‐formation periods beginning pre‐7200 cal. yr B.P. and lasting to the historic period. The stratigraphic sequence contains an archaeological component dated to ∼3800 cal. yr B.P. and several other components post‐800 cal. yr B.P. Major site formation processes include fluvial deposition and erosion, pedogenesis (accumulation of secondary carbonates), and bioturbation. Periods of increased deposition at Pioneer and elsewhere along the Big Lost River are inferred to have occurred between ∼8400–6500 cal. yr B.P. and ∼2700–400 cal. yr B.P., potentially related to cooler/wetter episodes of the mid‐to‐late Holocene, including increased precipitation during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (post‐750 cal. yr B.P.). There is also evidence of a high‐energy erosional event at ∼3800 cal. yr B.P. indicating a large middle Holocene flood. Pioneer provides an example of the archaeological and paleoclimatic value of studying alluvial buried soil stratigraphic sequences in arid environments.     

京杭大运河的功能与苏北运河段的发展利用*

京杭大运河历史时期的主要功能是运输和灌溉,增强军事防卫能力,维系政治统治,促进文化交流与经济发展。苏北段跨越黄淮平原和江淮平原,串联众多湖泊,北接鲁西南能源基地,南接经济发达的长江三角洲地区,是苏北地区重要的运输通道。在文献资料汇集整理和实地考察的基础上,提出当代大运河应充分发挥沟通乡镇、"北煤南运"及"南水北调"通道的作用,同时,还应在科学规划的基础上,发挥其历史文化遗迹、旅游民俗休闲与公众教育的功能。针对大运河苏北段水质污染、环境质量下降,航道堵塞及缺乏统一的管理机构等问题,建议加大水污染的防治力度,重视作为运河水源的湖泊水环境保护; 整治航道,在工程中注意保护运河沿岸文物; 成立大运河专门机构,统一规划部署; 加强运河航道管理以及协同地方政府与有关机构保护和利用大运河旅游资源,为申报世界遗产增强实力。     

A reconstruction of the pre‐8th century B.C. palaeotopography of central Corinth,Greece

The pre‐8th century B.C. palaeotopography of the center of Corinth, southern Greece, was reconstructed using a combination of geological and geomorphological observation and archaeological evidence. Preserved areas of calcrete and overlying calcareous soil, which represent surviving remnants lying close to the pre‐8th century B.C. land surface, were mapped. The geology of the site was also mapped. The topography of Corinth in pre‐8th century B.C. times was radically different from that observed today. Most topographic modification occurred as a result of quarrying from a line of Pleistocene oolitic sand dunes for construction‐stone during antiquity. The reconstruction presented differs in key respects from previously published palaeotopographies, which did not include geological evidence. The results of the new reconstruction illustrate the importance of combining geological, geomorphological, and archaeological evidence and have implications for the urban development of Corinth in post‐8th century B.C. times. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The origin of Lake Cheko and the 1908 Tunguska Event recorded by forest trees

Several lines of evidence indicate that Cheko, a small lake close to the epicentre of the 1908 Tunguska Event (TE), fills a crater left behind by a fragment of the Tunguska Cosmic Body that impacted the ground downrange of the main explosion. It is thought that over 80 million trees were flattened or burnt as a consequence of the TE. However, a small number of trees in the devastated area survived the explosion and recorded in their growth‐ring patterns the environmental changes that followed this event. Some of those trees were found around Lake Cheko, ~10 km NW of the inferred TE epicentre. We analysed new data from the floor of Lake Cheko, including seismic‐reflection profiles, side‐scan sonar and video images, as well as dendrochronological evidence in tree samples collected along the shores, to test the hypothesis of a 1908 formation of the lake.     

侧扫声纳在香港海洋物探工程调查中的应用

介绍了侧扫声纳在香港特别行政区水底地形学研究、填海工程监测、考古调查、水底人工养殖区规划等领域的应用成果，并结合典型应用实例，阐述了该方法关于工程设计、数据采集、数据处理及解释等方面的相关技术。     

A New Model for Coastal Resource Productivity and Sea‐Level Change: The Role of Physical Sedimentary Processes in Assessing the Archaeological Potential of Submerged Landscapes from the Northwest Australian Continental Shelf

Existing models of coastal occupation, in one form or another, embrace the assumption that changes in mean sea level were the prime driver for shifts in coastal resource productivity of consequence to coastal foragers. Focusing on the North West Shelf of Australia, this paper considers the role of physical sedimentary processes in understanding both past coastal resource productivity and the archaeology of drowned coastal landscapes. From a review of up‐to‐date literature on sea‐level related coastal formation process related to the North West Shelf, we describe the complex interplay of sea‐level change and sedimentary processes in determining (i) coastal resource availability, and (ii) archaeological site preservation potential through time. We argue that human behavioral models that have been linked solely to changes in sea level change from ca. 45 ka onward along the Australia continental shelf have inadequately accounted for local sedimentary regimes. It is not past sea‐level per se, which is of relevance to coastal productivity and human behavioral ecology models but changes in tidal regimes, coastal configurations and sedimentation. We conclude that our understanding of maritime adaptations for Sahul (Greater Australia) remain incomplete without investigating former coastlines and archaeological information that now lies submerged offshore.     

Variography of submarine morphology: Problems of deregularization, and cartographical implications

During the German Antarctic Expedition VI (leg 3, December 1987 to March 1988), bathymetric surveys were made in the Weddell Sea by the SEABEAM sonar system. For the first time geostatistical methods were applied in the SEABEAM-postprocessing. The investigations of variography that were necessary prior to the cartographical-geomorphological evaluation shed new light on classical geostatistical concerns. SEABEAM data provide a good example of a mean square, differentiable regionalized variable, where data are sampled over a two-dimensional support due to the technique of the sonar device. By deregularizations of the sample variograms, spatial continuity can be shown to be a property of seafloor depth as well as a point variable. The results are discussed in a sedimentological context. As an application of the regional variogram analyses, large-scale kriged bathymetric maps are presented.     

Glacial lake levels and Eastern Great Lakes Palaeo‐Indians

This article investigates changing lake levels in the late Pleistocene eastern Great Lakes in order to gain insights into the Early Palaeo‐Indian occupations. Significant new information bearing on lake level history is provided, notably the first well‐documented deposits of a high water level above modern in the ca. 11,000–10,300 B.P. period in the southern Lake Huron basin. The lake level information, along with paleoenvironmental and site data, reinforces site age estimates to the 11th millennium B.P.; suggests significant numbers of sites have been inundated by rising water levels; provides specific information on the setting of archaeological sites such as placing the Parkhill site adjacent to a large lake estuary; indicates reasons for the attractiveness of shorelines to Palaeo‐Indians including persistence of more open areas conducive to higher game productivity; and points to ideal areas for future archaeological site survey, particularly in the Lake Erie drainage. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Hohokam Canal Irrigation and the Formation of Irragric Anthrosols in the Middle Gila River Valley,Arizona, USA

Irragric anthrosols form as a result of prolonged deposition of fine sediments from irrigation water. Ancient irragric soils centuries to millennia old occur in several world regions, especially in arid environments of Asia and the Americas. This article presents evidence for an ancient irragric anthrosol in the North American Southwest, along the Snaketown Canal System in the Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona. This pedostratigraphic unit was formed as a result of a millennium of irrigation by Hohokam farmers from A.D. 450 to 1450. The irragric soil consists of a mantle of silty‐to‐loamy textures with minimal soil formation overlying a natural argillic horizon on a Pleistocene stream terrace. A soil mapped independently by the United States Department of Agriculture‐Natural Resources Conservation Service with these horizons corresponds closely with the canal system. Soil within the canal system tends to be lower in salt, sodium, and pH compared with external soils. This suggests that the irragric process improved soil for crop production through long‐term leaching and additions of fresh sediments with the irrigation water. This anthropogenic process of canal sedimentation has had a long‐lasting impact on the sedimentary record and soils in this arid environment.     

Palaeogeographic Changes at Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula,Ukraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene

This project has reconstructed the palaeogeographic and environmental evolution of Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula, Ukraine, during the mid‐ and late‐Holocene. This record has been evaluated in association with a regional archaeological data set to explore human–environment interactions over this period. The results show major changes in the palaeogeographic setting of Lake Chokrak since the 3rd millennium B.C., when the postglacial marine transgression had started to fill the study area. Microfaunal analyses reveal the long persistence of an open marine embayment that only became separated from the Sea of Azov when a sand barrier developed during the late 2nd millennium B.C. When colonizing the Black Sea region after the 8th century B.C., the Greek settlers erected a fortification with a small settlement on a promontory that was by then a peninsula‐like headland extending into the lake. The colonists abandoned their settlement at the end of the 1st millennium B.C. when the depth of the surrounding lake decreased from 1.5 m to less than 1 m. Today, Lake Chokrak dries up completely during summer. A detailed relative sea level (RSL) curve for the northern coast of Kerch has been established. Sea level reached its highest position at the present day. Since the 3rd millennium B.C., sea level continuously rose, without any of the previously postulated regression/transgression cycles. The RSL curve indicates differential subsidence rates within short distances in relatively stable areas, exceeding 40 cm per 1000 years. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

滇中路南石林的发育年代

路南石林是多期喀斯特过程的产物。根据石林与地层的接触关系、岩性变化、古风化壳、溶蚀率、钙华样年龄,确定了路南石林发育的多期性：前玄武岩期（晚二叠世早期）、前路南古湖期（三叠纪—古新世）、路南古湖期（始新世—渐新世）、高原—巴江期（中上新世—更新世）。高原—巴江期是剑状石林的主要发育时期。各期石林空间上的分离与重叠是路南石林喀斯特景观多样性的原因。     

Paleohydrological Changes in Highland Desert Rivers and Human Occupation, 7000‐3000 Cal. Yr B.P., South‐Central Andes,Argentina

This article focuses on local paleohydrological changes experienced by the Las Pitas and Miriguaca Rivers in the south‐central Andes of Argentina and their impacts on hunter‐gatherers as they transitioned to food‐producing communities 7000–3000 cal. yr B.P. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on geomorphology, alluvial sedimentology, and diatom evidence indicates a dry phase of reduced streamflow between ca. 6700 and 4800 cal. yr B.P. for the Las Pitas River, and 6600 and 3000 cal. yr B.P. for the Miriguaca River. A phase of more humid environmental conditions commenced after ca. 4900 cal. yr B.P. along the Las Pitas River, and after 3000 cal. yr B.P. along the Miriguaca River. Differences in the chronology and magnitude of hydrological changes along both rivers are related to topographic and hydrological characteristics of their respective watersheds. Higher catchment elevation and enhanced orographic precipitation favored greater sensitivity for the Las Pitas River to short humid events during the middle‐to‐late Holocene. The archaeological evidence suggests that the paleohydrological changes within these catchments played a significant role in human occupational dynamics such that the Las Pitas River offered better environmental conditions for human occupation relative to the Miriguaca River as foragers increasingly relied on plant and animal domestication.     

The Alluvial Geoarchaeology of the Sanyangzhuang Site on the Yellow River Floodplain,Henan Province,China

The Sanyangzhuang site, Henan Province, China, has a 12‐m‐deep stratigraphic sequence with remains from the Tang (A.D. 618–907), late Western Han (ca. 140 B.C.–A.D. 23), Warring States (475–221 B.C.), Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (ca. 5000–1500 B.C.), Middle Holocene, and Early Holocene times. All of the paleosols are deeply buried. We investigate four issues relevant to the archaeology of the lower Yellow River Valley. First, we confirm that the Yellow River flowed north toward Bohai Bay throughout most of the Holocene. Second, we expand understanding of Holocene paleoenvironments. Long episodes of landscape stability punctuated by brief periods of Yellow River flooding represent the dominant environmental pattern. Third, we investigate how the complex relationships between climate, culture, and the environment affect Yellow River flooding, which in turn shapes Chinese civilization and history. Flooding in late Western Han times affected a vast area of north‐central China; this catastrophe contributed to the downfall of the late Western Han Dynasty. Finally, this research sheds light on the role of Yellow River alluviation in site burial and preservation. Rapid alluviation in the region has buried many archaeological sites. Settlement pattern research needs to take seriously the limitations placed on site visibility in quickly aggrading floodplains. However, gentle alluviation has also preserved settlements and entire landscapes providing unparalleled opportunities to explore the archaeological and historical record of the lower Yellow River Valley.