J&J Hunt Submerged Archaeological Site - Organic Remains

Organic Remains

Organic remains are the decaying matter of a once living organism. In this context organic remains are very important in determining if and when an underwater archaeological site was above water. Evidence of terrestrial faunal and floral remains found in undisturbed contexts strongly indicate that a site was at one time not submerged.

At the J&J Hunt site within one of the test pits excavated, “ a fragmentary cranium and dentition of a juvenile mastodon was found atop a sedimentological layer consisting of dolomitized silty clay” (Arbuthnot 2002: 28; Faught 2004a). This is concrete evidence that the site was not always submerged in prehistory. Further “Within the contact zone of the marine and dolomitized silty clay sediments, charcoal, bone, and early Archaic artifacts were found in abundance” (Arbuthnot 2002: 28). Evidence of human occupation levels further back-up the evidence that the site was not fully inundated throughout prehistory.

By analyzing the organic remains and global paleoclimate data archaeologists and other scientists can determine very reasonable dates for when a site was not submerged and when it became fully inundated. In the case of the J&J Hunt site, it is believed that around its final occupation 7,000 years ago the site slowly became fully inundated, with a latest possible date of transgression around 5,000 B.P (Arbuthnot 2002; Faught 2004b).