Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:51:00.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sea Levels and Archaeology in the Long Island Sound Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bert Salwen
Bert Salwen*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two coastal sites on Long Island, the Stony Brook site and the Baxter site, are examined in the light of Fairbridge's data on sea level fluctuations during the last 7000 years. In each case, the coastline at the time of occupation is reconstructed, and inferences are made about the ecological setting. Archaeological data pertaining to subsistence pattern are then reviewed in the light of the probable local environment at the time of occupation. Orient culture occupations at both sites date from about 2900 B.P., when sea level is believed to have been about 10 feet below the present level. The Orient component midden at Stony Brook contains more oyster shell than any other species of mollusk, while that at the Baxter site contains a large percentage of clam shell and almost no oyster. This difference cannot be explained on cultural grounds, but can be shown to reflect local environmental factors existing under conditions of lowered sea level. The midden contents at other times of occupation are found to be consistent with the corresponding sea levels.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 1962 , pp. 46 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bloom, A. L. 1960 Late Pleistocene Changes of Sea Level in Southwestern Maine. Maine Geological Survey, Department of Economic Development, Augusta.Google Scholar
Byers, D. S. 1959 The Eastern Archaic: Some Problems and Hypotheses. American Antiquity, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 233–56. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Crowder, William 1931 Between the Tides. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R. W. 1958 Dating the Latest Movements of the Quaternary Sea Level. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, Series 2, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 471–82. New York.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R. W. 1960a The Changing Level of the Sea. Scientific American, Vol. 202, No. 5, pp. 70–9. New York.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R. W. 1960b Recent World-Wide Sea Level Changes. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 21, Nos. 3–4, pp. 49–51. Attleboro.Google Scholar
Fowler, W. S. 1956 Rhode Island (Report of State Delegation). Eastern States Archeological Federation Bulletin, No. 15, p. 9. Trenton.Google Scholar
Glynn, Frank 1953 The Pilots Point Submerged Sites. Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 27, pp. 11–29. New Haven.Google Scholar
Johnson, Frederick and Others 1942 The Boylston Street Fishweir. Papers of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, Vol. 2. Andover.Google Scholar
Johnson, Frederick and Raup, H. M. 1947 Grassy Island: Archaeological and Botanical Investigations of an Indian Site in the Taunton River, Massachusetts. Papers of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, Vol. 1, No. 2. Andover.Google Scholar
Meighan, C. W., Pendergast, D. M., Swartz, B. K. Jr., and Wissler, M. M. 1958 Ecological Interpretations in Archaeology: Part I. American Antiquity, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 1–23. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Newman, W. S. and Fairbridge, R. W. 1960a Active Subsidence in the New York Area. MS, paper delivered at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York, December, 1960.Google Scholar
Newman, W. S. and Fairbridge, R. W. 1960b Active Subsidence in the New York Area (Abstract). Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol. 71, No. 12, Pt. 2, pp. 2107–8. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Ritchie, W. A. 1958 An Introduction to Hudson Valley Prehistory. New York State Museum and Science Service, Bulletin, No. 367. Albany.Google Scholar
Ritchie, W. A. 1959 The Stony Brook Site and its Relation to Archaic and Transitional Cultures on Long Island. New York State Museum and Science Service, Bulletin, No. 372. Albany.Google Scholar
Sargent, H. R. 1952 A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Grannis Island. Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 26, pp. 30–50. New Haven.Google Scholar
Solecki, R. S. 1950 The Archeological Position of Historic Fort Corchaug, L.I., and its Relation to Contemporary Forts. Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 24, pp. 3–40. New Haven.Google Scholar