Abstract

We review the history of underwater archaeological investigations of submerged prehistoric remains on the North Pacific Coast of North America, divided into three phases: Phase 1 (1960s–1981) – hypotheses and “wet-site archaeology”; Phase 2 (1981–1994) – operationalized scuba explorations of submerged anchor stone accumulations and the Montague Harbour Underwater Archaeology Project; and Phase 3 (1995–present) – refined modeling of regional sea beds for areas of high archaeological potential on submerged relict shorelines with limited testing and identification of late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological deposits on near-shore intertidal and interior upland strandlines. The latter part of Phase 3 also saw the potential for submerged prehistoric cultural resources integrated into consideration of development project assessments. Finally, the Coastal Migration Route for early migration to the Americas shifted from a peripheral proposition to a central complimentary paradigm. These multiple streams of theory, modeling, and pragmatic effort are poised to converge in a new era of practical underwater archaeological research on the North Pacific Coast.

摘要

我们回顾了北美北太平洋海岸史前遗骸的水下考古调查的历史，分为三个阶段：第一阶段（1960年代至1981年）–假设和“湿地考古”；第二阶段（1960年代至1981年）。第二阶段（1981-1994年）–对水下锚石堆积物和Montague港水下考古项目进行水肺探索；和第3阶段（1995年至今）–对淹没的遗迹海岸线上具有较高考古潜力的区域海床进行了精确建模，但对近岸潮间带和内陆高地界线上的晚更新世和全新世早期考古沉积进行了有限的测试和识别。第三阶段的后期还看到了将史前文化资源淹没的可能性纳入发展项目评估的考虑之中。最后，早期移民至美洲的沿海移民路线已从外围命题转变为中央互补范式。这些多方面的理论，模型和务实的工作准备在北太平洋海岸的实用水下考古研究的新时代中融合。