the sea level does not rise
Rising seas, development are altering prehistoric artifacts in the Chesapeake's tidal zone | Smithsonian Science
Some 1,500 to 1,000 years ago, the Chesapeake Bay region was dotted with the tiny settlements of prehistoric Indians who harvested the bay's bounty of fish, shellfish and other animals. Today, numerous stone tools buried in sediments, shell middens and the outlines of their dwellings are all that remain of these little-known people.
As a coastal archaeologist and expert in prehistoric and historic settlement sites in the Chesapeake Bay region, Darrin Lowery of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and University of Delaware, is carefully watching the effects of coastal erosion and rising sea levels on coastal archaeological sites. As sea levels creep slowly upward, scores of these sites are slipping under water and becoming more difficult, if not impossible, to excavate and study.
Image right: Darrin Lowery examines soils and peat marsh for evidence of ancient landscapes and sea level rise on the Mockhorn Island in Virginia. (Photo by Mike Hardesty, Washington College)
Of equal concern, says Lowery, are the chemical processes that accompany rising seas, which can modify and deteriorate the stone tools that early Americans used to hunt and prepare food and clothing hundreds of years ago. Lowery is co-author of a recent paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science on the geochemical impacts to prehistoric artifacts in coastal zones. He recently answered a few questions about his work.
Q. How do the chemical processes of sea level rise affect primitive stone tools?
