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New Evidence for Paleolithic Occupation of the Eas
New Evidence for Paleolithic Occupation of the Eastern North American Outer Continental Shelf at the Last Glacial Maximum
Introduction
Researchers have postulated the presence of submerged archaeological deposits on the Middle Atlantic continental shelf of North America for decades (Emery and Edwards 1966; Edwards and Emery 1977; Kraft et al. 1983). However, archaeological discoveries on the continental shelf made during commercial shellfish dredging have gone unrecorded or have escaped detection. By contrast, numerous vertebrate remains including the bones, teeth, and skulls of mammoth, mastodon, and walrus have been reportedly discovered by deep-sea fishermen and dredgers on the continental shelf (Edwards and Merrill 1977; Whitmore et al. 1967). In 1974, Captain Thurston Shawn and the crew of Cinmar, a scallop trawler working 100 km east of the Virginia Capes, were dredging at a depth of 70 m (Fig.
5.1). Just after starting their run, the dredge became very heavy and when reeled in, it contained a mastodon skull. While cleaning the bone from the dredge, a large bifacially flaked rhyolite knife was discovered. Shawn carefully plotted the water depth and the exact location of the find on his navigation charts and noted that all of these items were dredged at the same time. To expedite getting back to dredging, the Cinmar crew broke up the skull and removed the tusks and teeth for souvenirs, throwing the rest of the bone overboard. Later the tusks were sawn into pieces and distributed among the crew.
https://www.academia.edu/8000103/New...lacial_Maximum
Introduction
Researchers have postulated the presence of submerged archaeological deposits on the Middle Atlantic continental shelf of North America for decades (Emery and Edwards 1966; Edwards and Emery 1977; Kraft et al. 1983). However, archaeological discoveries on the continental shelf made during commercial shellfish dredging have gone unrecorded or have escaped detection. By contrast, numerous vertebrate remains including the bones, teeth, and skulls of mammoth, mastodon, and walrus have been reportedly discovered by deep-sea fishermen and dredgers on the continental shelf (Edwards and Merrill 1977; Whitmore et al. 1967). In 1974, Captain Thurston Shawn and the crew of Cinmar, a scallop trawler working 100 km east of the Virginia Capes, were dredging at a depth of 70 m (Fig.
5.1). Just after starting their run, the dredge became very heavy and when reeled in, it contained a mastodon skull. While cleaning the bone from the dredge, a large bifacially flaked rhyolite knife was discovered. Shawn carefully plotted the water depth and the exact location of the find on his navigation charts and noted that all of these items were dredged at the same time. To expedite getting back to dredging, the Cinmar crew broke up the skull and removed the tusks and teeth for souvenirs, throwing the rest of the bone overboard. Later the tusks were sawn into pieces and distributed among the crew.
https://www.academia.edu/8000103/New...lacial_Maximum
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