lunes, 8 de julio de 2013

Scientists want to study Bulls Scarp, ocean-bottom archaeological site that was Ice Age coast

College of Charleston geology professor Scott Harris uses a sonar image to explain Bulls Scarp, 50 miles off the coast of South Carolina, has peaks and valleys. 

 Anyone who stood on a rock ledge a few hundred feet above an ocean-swept river delta could have watched for walruses or whales among the icebergs and searched for woolly mammoths tracking across the barren savannah behind.

 And those people might well have left traces — thousands of years ago, about 60 miles from Charleston, offshore.

Bulls Scarp could be the most fascinating and important archaeological site waiting to be surveyed in the region. There’s just one little problem: That Ice Age rock ledge is under about 140 feet of seawater.

But a team of scientists recently studied and mapped it from the ocean surface. Now the team is looking for partners to go back.

“We haven’t been on the bottom to look for artifacts and that’s what we’re trying to do. We feel very strongly this area would have held populations of people,” said Scott Harris, College of Charleston geology professor.

“I think it’s fantastic. I can just picture it in my mind. We know these hard grounds were occupied by herd animals and people at the time,” said George Sedberry, National Marine Sanctuaries science coordinator. [...] postandcourier.com/

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