Midden sites in relation to sea level and paleoecology
Midden shell mounds consisting mainly of shallow marine, estuarine and lagoonal molluscan species are known from the coasts of every continent (except for Antarctica). While principally mid- to late Holocene in age, they date back to late Pleistocene in some glacioisostatic uplift areas (Scandinavia) and even the last interglacial at about 125,000 BP (Southern Africa). Inasmuch as the camp sites would normally be located immediately adjacent to the best shellfish collecting areas, they constitute useful shoreline indicators. Large, complex mounds disclose horizons showing temporary inundation and short-term abandonment. Occupation dates match independent chronologies of sea-level change. Analysis of shell species permits estimation of paleosalinity and paleotemperature, as well as assisting appraisal of general paleoecological setting. It is speculated that an abrupt change in trend of the Flandrian sea-level rise at about 6000 BP (C-14) stabilized the development of large lagoons and estuaries, particularly favorable sites for safe shellfish gathering. Prior to that the frequent and very rapid transgressions created repeatedly displaced (drowned) habitats. Since then man has been able to occupy semi-stable coastal sites, thus contributing to the world-wide post-Neolithic shift away from nomadic economy and towards village way of life.
- Research Organization:
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6652990
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8510489-
- Journal Information:
- Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States), Vol. 17; Conference: 98. annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Orlando, FL, USA, 28 Oct 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
EARTH PLANET
OCEANOGRAPHY
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
MAN
HABITAT
SEA LEVEL
VARIATIONS
COASTAL REGIONS
ECOLOGY
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GLOBAL ASPECTS
MOLLUSCS
QUATERNARY PERIOD
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CENOZOIC ERA
ECOSYSTEMS
GEOLOGIC AGES
INVERTEBRATES
LEVELS
MAMMALS
PALEONTOLOGY
PLANETS
PRIMATES
VERTEBRATES
580100* - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)
580500 - Oceanography- (1980-1989)