Academic literature on the topic 'Marine archaeology'

The history of the study of marine exploitation in Scotland is outlined prior to the presentation of an overview of the evidence for its practice in both earlier and later prehistory. This overview is based on a corpus of Scottish prehistoric sites known to include evidence for marine exploitation. Marine shells are found on a variety of archaeological sites, many of which cannot be described as shell middens. They are defined in this work as sites given over to the primary processing and consumption of marine resources, most obviously represented by marine shells. A simple classificatory system is introduced in order to allow further discussion of the similarities and differences between various types of deposits. The material culture related to marine exploitation is discussed and ethnohistorical sources are used to demonstrate some of the ways in which similar elements of material culture have been utilised in more recent times. Issues discussed here include not only shellfish exploitation but also whaling, fishing and the use of seaweeds. The utilisation of various kinds of raw materials, of both terrestrial and marine origin, are discussed and their contextual relationship to marine resource residues considered. Discussion will then move on to focus more closely on a number of aspects relating to marine exploitation in both early and later prehistory. The 'Obanian' sites in Oban and Oronsay are used as a case study to examine the implications of shell middens being used over long periods of time and as places for burial. The results of survey and excavation work carried out on the 'Obanian' shell midden on Risga are used to supplement a discussion on the nature and role of shell middens. Discussion of the later period is centred upon a contextual study of settlement sites and the relationship between marine and terrestrial resources is discussed. This work draws to a close by considering the role of marine resources in prehistoric ritual practice. The implications of the deposition of marine shells in chambered tombs and the construction of chambered tombs over shell middens are discussed. In the later period the redeposition of midden material appears to play an important part in the development of substantial settlement complexes and may represent a change in the nature of ritual behaviour. The concluding chapter isolates what are felt to be the most important issues raised by this work.

Includes abstract.<br>Includes bibliographical references (p. 298-335).<br>Marine fish remains are not common in Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites in Africa. There are currently only two known MSA sites with good organic preservation in South Africa that contain marine fish remains in relatively high numbers: Blombos Cave (BBC) and Klasies River main site (KR). Marine fish exploitation is considered by some researchers as a marker of modern human behaviour, requiring cognitive and technological capacities thought to have only appeared after 50 000 years ago, during the Later Stone Age (LSA).

This study determines the methods, products a nd areas of marine resource exploitation in the northwest Maghreb during the mid-1stto late 3rd centuries AD, when the region constituted the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. At the centre of this thesis are two data sets that are contextualised within the specific marine, lagoonal and riverine environments of the province: regional archaeological data (marine an imal remains, fishing equipment, and finds related to fish-salting practices) and relevant descriptive data (written sources, iconography and ethnography). This material included in this study derives not only from the Roman period but also the preceding Punico-Mauretanian and subsequent Late Roman periods. Such a diachronic analysis identifies the ways in which the practice and role of fishing and consumption of its products we re affected by the region’s incorporation into the Roman Empire. The region’s maritime cultural landscape was conducive to a variety of exploitation methods, practised throughout all periods examined. However, the socio-cultural, economic and technological structures that were the consequences of inclusion into the Roman political system developed to a level that reached commercialisation of the resource. Thus, for the first three centuries AD, anthropogenic factors instituted a change in the way in which people moved through and related to the marine environment of the northwest Maghreb.

The purpose of this study was to describe the investigation of the Mica shipwreck. The objectives of the investigation, as identified by nautical archaeologists from the United States Minerals Management Service and the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University, include determining the extent and limits of the wreck site, acquisition of diagnostic artifacts to identify the temporal period of the shipwreck and its mission at the time of loss, to identify the type of ship and its country of origin, and quantify the relationship between the vessel's construction and function. The manuscript contains a thorough analysis of the equipment and approach used by archaeologists during the excavation. The manuscript also briefly explores the use of metallic ship sheathing during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focusing specifically on the pure copper sheathing found on the Mica wreck. Sheathing from numerous contemporary vessels will be analyzed and compared to the Mica shipwreck sheathing.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007.<br>Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 339-383). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.