Current Applications

Author(s): R.G.Carper
Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 48, No. 6 (December 2007), p. 779
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/521536 .

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Current Applications

779
Underwater Archaeology
Exploring the Submerged Continental
Shelf
Insights into unanswered questions of human prehistory surely lie beyond the waters
edge. Yet submerged archaeological sites,
even ones tantalizingly close to shore, remain
largely unexplored because of prohibitive
costs and underdeveloped techniques. Archaeologist Daryl Fedje of Parks Canada,
Western Canada Service Centre, in collaboration with a number of Canadian institutions and First Nations heritage specialists,
has breached this watery frontier. Specifically,
Fedje and his colleagues have developed a
research program that incorporates seafloor
mapping, settlement modeling, and underwater technologies to investigate the earliest
peopling of the Americas, a subject that has
been debated for many decades.
Scholars have been unable to reach consensus regarding two main aspects of initial
colonization: the timing of the first arrivals
and the route by which people came. Traditional explanations of the route of entry
have centered on a terrestrial migration across
a landmass exposed when past sea levels were
lowered by glacier formation. As glaciers
melted during the terminal Pleistocene, archaeological sites present either on the land
bridge or along the coast would have been
inundated. So while some evidence of overland travel, collected from sites on either side
of what is now the Bering Strait, remains controversial, determining whether early migrants
traveled along the coast instead, perhaps by
boat, is difficult to test because much of the
Pleistocene coastline is now submerged beneath as much as 150 meters of water.
For more than a decade, Fedje has been
investigating ancient shorelines for evidence
of prehistoric human activity, working closely
with the Geological Survey of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Haida Nation,

and academics at the University of Victoria

and Simon Fraser University. One such collaboration involved mapping the continental
shelf in Hecate Strait, between Haida Gwaii
(the Queen Charlotte Islands) and mainland
British Columbia. Using seismic reflection
mapping, piston coring, and floral, faunal, and
radiocarbon analyses, the team is reconstructing ancient landscapes and previous sea-level
positions in parts of the strait. Their expeditions have also incorporated high-resolution
sonar, remotely operated underwater vehicles,
and manned submersibles to produce more
detailed images of inundated landforms.
Guided by models frequently used in terrestrial archaeology to anticipate site locations,
Fedje and his colleagues located what they believe to be a submerged archaeological site
along a paleo-river channel off Haida Gwaii.
The research team has recently redoubled
its efforts to locate additional sites along the
Northwest Coast. A multiyear project led by
Fedje and Jonathan Moore of Parks Canadas
underwater archaeology section will focus on
detailed modeling of a drowned pre-Holocene
lake terrace using remote tools and intensive
scuba excavations. The information gathered
by these methods will become part of Canadas cultural heritage and will be made available to both the academic community and the
public through publications and other media.
Underwater research programs such as Fedjes
multidisciplinary investigation of ancient ecologies and early coastal adaptations along the
Northwest Coast bring us closer to understanding not only when and by what route or
routes the first migrants came to the Americas
but also how prehistoric people made a living
in a dynamic postglacial environment.
R. G. Carper
DOI: 10.1086/521536

Crew lowers Daryl Fedje (Parks Canada) and Heiner Josenhans (Geological Survey of Canada) as
they prepare to descend to 145 meters below the surface to explore drowned beaches off the coast
of Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. (Photo Quentin Mackie)

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