Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology pp 145–156Cite as

Coastal Settings

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Coastal contexts; Coastal habitats

Definition

Within at least the last 70,000 years of human history, coasts have been favored increasingly as places for people to settle, typically in order to take advantage of coastal foods, as well as places from which to interact readily with other human groups (Bailey and Parkington, 1988). Long-standing claims that coasts stimulated the development of agriculture by allowing Homo sapiens a unique opportunity to domesticate plants (Sauer, 1962; Binford, 1968) remain credible. Yet it is also apparent that “many of the world’s coastlines that have the most productive environmental conditions for heavy dependence on marine and intertidal resources … were only colonised by human populations relatively recently” (Bailey, 2004, 41). Coastal food exploitation was so important to some societies that it came to define them (Szabó and Amesbury, 2011; Jew et al., 2013), whereas for others it was less important, something that might feature in...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   549.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   599.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Al-Tarazi, E. A., and Korjenkov, A. M., 2007. Archaeoseismological investigation of the ancient Ayla site in the city of Aqaba, Jordan. Natural Hazards, 42(1), 47–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amesbury, J. R., 2013. Pelagic fishing in the Mariana Archipelago: from the prehistoric period to the present. In Ono, R., Morrison, A., and Addison, D. J. (eds.), Prehistoric Marine Resource Use in the Indo-Pacific Regions. Canberra: Australian National University E Press, pp. 33–57. Terra Australis 39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A., Roberts, R., Dickinson, W., Clark, G., Burley, D., de Biran, A., Hope, G., and Nunn, P., 2006. Times of sand: sedimentary history and archaeology at the Sigatoka Dunes, Fiji. Geoarchaeology, 21(2), 131–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, G., 2004. World prehistory from the margins: the role of coastlines in human evolution. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in History and Archaeology, 1(1), 39–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, G. N., 2009. The Red Sea, coastal landscapes, and hominin dispersals. In Petraglia, M. D., and Rose, J. I. (eds.), The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia. Amsterdam: Springer, pp. 15–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, G. N., and King, G. C. P., 2011. Dynamic landscapes and human dispersal patterns: tectonics, coastlines, and the reconstruction of human habitats. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(11–12), 1533–1553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, G. N., and Parkington, J. (eds.), 1988. The Archaeology of Prehistoric Coastlines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, G. N., Flemming, N. C., King, G. C. P., Lambeck, K., Momber, G., Moran, L. J., Al-Sharekh, A., and Vita-Finzi, C., 2007. Coastlines, submerged landscapes, and human evolution: the Red Sea Basin and the Farasan Islands. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2(2), 127–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balme, J., 2013. Of boats and string: the maritime colonisation of Australia. Quaternary International, 285, 68–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., and Haws, J., 2008. At the land’s end: marine resources and the importance of fluctuations in the coastline in the prehistoric hunter-gatherer economy of Portugal. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27(23–24), 2166–2175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bicho, N., Umbelino, C., Detry, C., and Pereira, T., 2010. The emergence of Muge Mesolithic shell middens in central Portugal and the 8200 cal yr BP cold event. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 5(1), 86–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binford, L. R., 1968. Post-pleistocene adaptations. In Binford, S. R., and Binford, L. R. (eds.), New Perspectives in Archaeology. Chicago: Aldine, pp. 313–341.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brysac, S. B., 2003. Letter from Germany: Atlantis of the Baltic. Archaeology, 56(4), 62–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burley, D. V., and Dickinson, W. R., 2001. Origin and significance of a founding settlement in Polynesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(20), 11829–11831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavulli, F., and Scaruffi, S., 2013. Thoughts on nomadism in Middle Holocene Oman. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 24(1), 15–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., Zong, Y., Wang, Z., Wang, H., and Chen, J., 2008. Migration patterns of Neolithic settlements on the abandoned Yellow and Yangtze River deltas of China. Quaternary Research, 70(2), 301–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cleuziou, S., and Tosi, M., 2007. In the Shadow of the Ancestors: The Prehistoric Foundations of the Early Arabian Civilization in Oman. Muscat: Ministry of Heritage and Culture.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creamer, W., Haas, J., Jakaitis, E., III, and Holguin, J., 2011. Far from the shore: comparison of marine invertebrates in midden deposits from two sites in the Norte Chico, Peru. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 6(2), 176–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, I., 2013. Peopling the last new worlds: the first colonisation of Sahul and the Americas. Quaternary International, 285, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day, J. W., Jr., Gunn, J. D., Folan, W. J., Yáñez-Arancibia, A., and Horton, B. P., 2012. The influence of enhanced post-glacial coastal margin productivity on the emergence of complex societies. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 7(1), 23–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Piazza, A., and Pearthree, E., 2001. An island for gardens, an island for birds and voyaging: a settlement pattern for Kiritimati and Tabuaeran, two “mystery islands” in the northern Lines, Republic of Kiribati. Journal of the Polynesian Society, 110(2), 149–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickinson, W. R., 2003. Impact of mid-Holocene hydro-isostatic highstand in regional sea level on habitability of islands in Pacific Oceania. Journal of Coastal Research, 19(2), 489–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erlandson, J. M., and Braje, T. J., 2011. From Asia to the Americas by boat? Paleogeography, paleoecology, and stemmed points of the northwest Pacific. Quaternary International, 239(1–2), 28–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlandson, J. M., Graham, M. H., Bourque, B. J., Corbett, D., Estes, J. A., and Steneck, R. S., 2007. The kelp highway hypothesis: marine ecology, the coastal migration theory, and the peopling of the Americas. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2(2), 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field, J. S., Petraglia, M. D., and Lahr, M. M., 2007. The southern dispersal hypothesis and the South Asian archaeological record: examination of dispersal routes through GIS analysis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 26(1), 88–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funabiki, A., Saito, Y., Phai, V. V., Nguyen, H., and Haruyama, S., 2012. Natural levees and human settlement in the Song Hong (Red River) delta, northern Vietnam. The Holocene, 22(6), 637–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaffney, V. L., Fitch, S., and Smith, D. N., 2009. Europe’s Lost World: The Rediscovery of Doggerland. York: Council for British Archaeology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, R. C., 2003. The Lapita horizon and traditions – signature for one set of Oceanic migrations. In Sand, C. (ed.), Pacific Archaeology: Assessments and Prospects (Proceedings of the International Conference for the 50th Anniversary of the First Lapita Excavation, Koné-Nouméa 2002). Les cahiers de l'archéologie en Nouvelle-Calédonie 15. Nouméa, Nouvelle-Calédonie: Département Archéologie, Service des Musées et du Patrimoine de Nouvelle-Calédonie, pp. 95–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez-Zugasti, I., Andersen, S. H., Araújo, A. C., Dupont, C., Milner, N., and Monge-Soares, A. M., 2011. Shell midden research in Atlantic Europe: state of the art, research problems and perspectives for the future. Quaternary International, 239(1–2), 70–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haenssler, E., Nadeau, M. J., Vött, A., and Unkel, I., 2013. Natural and human induced environmental changes preserved in a Holocene sediment sequence from the Etoliko Lagoon, Greece: new evidence from geochemical proxies. Quaternary International, 308–309, 89–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hein, C. J., FitzGerald, D. M., Milne, G. A., Bard, K., and Fattovich, R., 2011. Evolution of a Pharaonic harbor on the Red Sea: implications for coastal response to changes in sea level and climate. Geology, 39(7), 687–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hijma, M. P., and Cohen, K. M., 2010. Timing and magnitude of the sea-level jump preluding the 8200 yr event. Geology, 38(3), 275–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillier, J. K., Bunbury, J. M., and Graham, A., 2007. Monuments on a migrating Nile. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34(7), 1011–1015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holdaway, S. J., Fanning, P. C., Jones, M., Shiner, J., Witter, D. C., and Nicholls, G., 2002. Variability in the chronology of Late Holocene Aboriginal occupation on the arid margin of southeastern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29(4), 351–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilves, K., and Darmark, K., 2011. Some critical and methodological aspects of shoreline determination: examples from the Baltic Sea region. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 18(2), 147–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jerardino, A., 2012. Large shell middens and hunter-gatherer resource intensification along the west coast of South Africa: the Elands Bay case study. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 7(1), 76–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jew, N. P., Erlandson, J. M., Watts, J., and White, F. J., 2013. Shellfish, seasonality, and stable isotope sampling: δ18O analysis of mussel shells from an 8,800-year-old shell midden on California’s Channel Islands. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 8(2), 170–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kagawa, A. K., and Vitousek, P. M., 2012. The ahupua’a of Puanui: a resource for understanding Hawaiian rain-fed agriculture. Pacific Science, 66(2), 161–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaniewski, D., Paulissen, E., Van Campo, E., Al-Maqdissi, M., Bretschneider, J., and Van Lerberghe, K., 2008. Middle East coastal ecosystem response to middle-to-late Holocene abrupt climate changes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(37), 13941–13946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kayanne, H., Yasukochi, T., Yamaguchi, T., Yamano, H., and Yoneda, M., 2011. Rapid settlement of Majuro Atoll, central Pacific, following its emergence at 2000 years CalBP. Geophysical Research Letters, 38(20), L20405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, J. T., Belknap, D. F., and Claesson, S., 2010. Drowned coastal deposits with associated archaeological remains from a sea-level “slowstand”: Northwestern Gulf of Maine, USA. Geology, 38(8), 695–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennett, D. J., Anderson, A., and Winterhalder, B., 2006. The ideal free distribution, food production, and the colonization of Oceania. In Kennett, D. J., and Winterhalder, B. (eds.), Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 265–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirch, P. V. (ed.), 2001. Lapita and Its Transformations in Near Oceania: Archaeological Investigations in the Mussau Islands, Papua New Guinea, 1985–88. Berkeley: Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Vol. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, J. P., Ryves, D. B., Rasmussen, P., Knudsen, K. L., Petersen, K. S., Olsen, J., Leng, M. J., Kristensen, P., McGowan, S., and Philippsen, B., 2013. Environmental change in the Limfjord, Denmark (ca 7500–1500 cal yrs BP): a multiproxy study. Quaternary Science Reviews, 78, 126–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowery, D., Jodry, M., and Stanford, D., 2012. Clovis coastal zone width variation: a possible solution for early Paleoindian population disparity along the Mid-Atlantic coast, USA. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 7(1), 53–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marín-Arroyo, A. B., 2013. Human response to Holocene warming on the Cantabrian Coast (northern Spain): an unexpected outcome. Quaternary Science Reviews, 81, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marriner, N., and Morhange, C., 2007. Geoscience of ancient Mediterranean harbours. Earth-Science Reviews, 80(3–4), 137–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miotk-Szpiganowicz, G., Zachowicz, J., and Uscinowicz, S., 2010. Palynological evidence of human activity on the Gulf of Gdansk coast during the late Holocene. Brazilian Journal of Oceanography, 58(spe1), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 1999. Environmental Change in the Pacific Basin: Chronologies, Causes, Consequences. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 2007a. Climate, Environment and Society in the Pacific During the Last Millennium. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 2007b. Holocene sea-level change and human response in Pacific Islands. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 98(1), 117–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 2009a. Geographical influences on settlement-location choices by initial colonizers: a case study of the Fiji Islands. Geographical Research, 47(3), 306–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 2009b. Vanished Islands and Hidden Continents of the Pacific. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., 2012. Na koronivalu ni Bā: upland settlement during the last millennium in the Bā River Valley and Vatia Peninsula, northern Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Asian Perspectives, 51(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunn, P. D., and Britton, J. M. R., 2004. The long-term evolution of Niue Island. In Terry, J. P., and Murray, W. E. (eds.), Niue Island: Geographical Perspectives on the Rock of Polynesia. Paris: INSULA, pp. 31–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell, J. F., and Allen, J., 2012. The restaurant at the end of the universe: modelling the colonisation of Sahul. Australian Archaeology, 74, 5–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, S., McWilliam, A., Fenner, J. N., and Brockwell, S., 2012. Examining the origin of fortifications in East Timor: social and environmental factors. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 7(2), 200–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pope, K. O., Pohl, M. E. D., Jones, J. G., Lentz, D. L., von Nagy, C., Vega, F. J., and Quitmyer, I. R., 2001. Origin and environmental setting of ancient agriculture in the lowlands of Mesoamerica. Science, 292(5520), 1370–1373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porat, N., Sivan, D., and Zviely, D., 2008. Late Holocene embayment infill and shoreline migration, Haifa Bay, Eastern Mediterranean. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences, 57(1), 21–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richter, C., Roa-Quiaoit, H., Jantzen, C., Al-Zibdah, M., and Kochzius, M., 2008. Collapse of a new living species of giant clam in the Red Sea. Current Biology, 18(17), 1349–1354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robb, K. F., and Nunn, P. D., 2014. Changing role of nearshore-marine foods in the subsistence economy of inland upland communities during the last millennium in the tropical Pacific Islands: insights from the Bā River Valley, Northern Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Environmental Archaeology, 19(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romanescu, G., 2013. Geoarchaeology of the ancient and medieval Danube Delta: modeling environmental and historical changes. A review. Quaternary International, 293, 231–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano, P., Di Vito, M. A., Giampaola, D., Cinque, A., Bartoli, C., Boenzi, G., Detta, F., Di Marco, M., Giglio, M., Iodice, S., Liuzza, V., Ruello, M. R., and Schiano di Cola, C., 2013. Intersection of exogenous, endogenous and anthropogenic factors in the Holocene landscape: a study of the Naples coastline during the last 6000 years. Quaternary International, 303, 107–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, C. O., 1962. Seashore – primitive home of man? Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106(1), 41–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sjögren, P., 2009. Climate, cod and crops: coastal land use in the SW Barents Sea region during the past 2.5 ka. The Holocene, 19(5), 703–716.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. E., Harrison, S., Firth, C. R., and Jordan, J. T., 2011. The early Holocene sea level rise. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(15–16), 1846–1860.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soter, S., and Katsonopoulou, D., 2011. Submergence and uplift of settlements in the area of Helike, Greece, from the Early Bronze Age to late antiquity. Geoarchaeology, 26(4), 584–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Specht, J., 2007. Small islands in the big picture: the formative period of Lapita in the Bismarck Archipelago. In Bedford, S., Sand, C., and Connaughton, S. P. (eds.), Oceanic Explorations: Lapita and Western Pacific Settlement. Canberra: Australian National University ePress, pp. 51–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stančikaitė, M., Daugnora, L., Hjelle, K., and Hufthammer, A. K., 2009. The environment of the Neolithic archaeological sites in Šventoji, Western Lithuania. Quaternary International, 207(1–2), 117–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, J.-D., Warne, A. G., and Schnepp, G., 2004. Geoarchaeological interpretation of the Canopic, largest of the relict Nile delta distributaries, Egypt. Journal of Coastal Research, 20(3), 920–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark, M. T., 2006. Early mainland Southeast Asian landscapes in the first millennium A.D. Annual Review of Anthropology, 35, 407–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szabó, K., and Amesbury, J. R., 2011. Molluscs in a world of islands: the use of shellfish as a food resource in the tropical island Asia-Pacific region. Quaternary International, 239(1–2), 8–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terrell, J. E., 2002. Tropical agroforestry, coastal lagoons, and Holocene prehistory in Greater Near Oceania. In Yoshida, S., and Matthews, P. J. (eds.), Vegeculture in Eastern Asia and Oceania. Osaka: Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 195–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terrell, J. E., 2004. The ‘sleeping giant’ hypothesis and New Guinea’s place in the prehistory of Greater Near Oceania. World Archaeology, 36(4), 601–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Glasow, R., Jickells, T. D., Baklanov, A., Carmichael, G. R., Church, T. M., Gallardo, L., Hughes, C., Kanakidou, M., Liss, P. S., Mee, L., Raine, R., Ramachandran, P., Ramesh, R., Sundseth, K., Tsunogai, U., Uematsu, M., and Zhu, T., 2013. Megacities and large urban agglomerations in the coastal zone: interactions between atmosphere, land, and marine ecosystems. Ambio, 42(1), 13–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisler, M. I., 1996. Taking the mystery out of the Polynesian “mystery” islands: a case study from Mangareva and the Pitcairn Group. In Davidson, J. M., Irwin, G., Leach, B. F., Pawley, A., and Brown, D. (eds.), Oceanic Culture History: Essays in Honour of Roger Green. Dunedin North: New Zealand Journal of Archaeology Special Publication, pp. 615–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisler, M. I., Bolt, R., and Findlater, A., 2010. Prehistoric fishing strategies on the makatea island of Rurutu. Archaeology in Oceania, 45(3), 130–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, L. E., 1992. Holocene landscape change on the Santa Delta, Peru: impact on archaeological site distributions. The Holocene, 2(3), 193–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Q., Zhu, C., Liu, C. L., and Jiang, T., 2005. Environmental change and its impacts on human settlement in the Yangtze Delta, P.R. China. Catena, 60(3), 267–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, Y. F., Sun, G. P., and Chen, X. G., 2012. Response of rice cultivation to fluctuating sea level during the Mid-Holocene. Chinese Science Bulletin, 57(4), 370–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research, The University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, 4558, Australia

    Patrick D. Nunn

Authors
  1. Patrick D. Nunn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick D. Nunn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Nunn, P.D. (2017). Coastal Settings. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_152

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation