Cleanup after the BP oil spill has turned up dozens of sites where archaeologists are finding human and animal bones, pottery and primitive weapons left behind by prehistoric Indian settlements — a trove of new clues about the Gulf Coast's mound dwellers more than 1,300 years ago.
But they also fear the remains could be damaged by oil or lost to erosion before they can be fully studied.
So far, teams of archaeologists hired by the oil giant have visited more than 100 sites and sent back a growing list of finds to labs for radio carbon dating and other tests, though extensive excavations haven't been done. Scholars have also accompanied cleanup crews to make sure they don't unwittingly throw away relics.
The disaster that began when the Deepwater Horizon exploded in April 2010 has highlighted the need to protect the sites, but a government scientist says neither their discovery — nor the money to study them — would have come as quickly without the spill.
"We're filling in gaps. There is some pioneering archaeological work going on as a result of the oil spill," said Larry Murphy, lead archaeologist for a council of government agencies and trustees overseeing the oil cleanup.
He said uncovering the sites, many of them prehistoric, represents "a great leap in cumulative knowledge" about American Indians in coastal Louisiana, who have been less studied than their counterparts in other regions.
Still, the oil represents an added threat to an area that already was under siege from land loss and rising sea levels. Oil has contaminated some artifacts and can interfere with radiocarbon dating, a primary technique for determining the age of an object. Many shores are still scattered with tar balls.
Louisiana's state archaeologist, Charles McGimsey, said the extent of the oil damage to artefacts isn't known, but he doesn't expect it to be disastrous.The Associated Press was given a rare glimpse of several sites in June during a guided tour of the Caminada Headland by land warden and amateur archaeologist Forrest Travirca III. The beaches are closed to the public, and the locations of archaeological sites are being closely guarded to prevent looting.
Prehistoric artefacts had been found and recorded on the headland before the spill, but not to the extent now being done. Travirca began finding more of them while keeping watch for BP's black oil last summer on a remote stretch of beach that looks onto the silhouettes of oil rigs and platforms. The headland was one of the hardest-hit spots.
"I was walking on marine shell, rangia clam shell, walking out on a point I know, when I looked down, found a pot sherd, and then I started finding more and more," Travirca said.
So far, archaeologists have limited their examination to the surface of the sites here, scouring the beaches at low tides. They have found deer antlers that probably were used as spear heads, decorated pieces of pottery and gar fish scales that might have been used as darts. Human bones have been reburied in keeping with the wishes of the Chitimacha tribe, which has links to the ancient settlements.
Richard Weinstein, an archaeologist who specializes in coastal Louisiana Indians, said the preponderance of deer bones and antlers found since the spill is fascinating because it indicates the area was once forested with ridges.
"The fact that the Indians in the area were hunting deer to the extent that these guys did makes it very interesting because the coast we have there today is busted-up marsh," he said. "There aren't that many stands of trees and vegetation left."
About the artefacts
Many American Indian artefacts uncovered since the BP oil spill come from middens, or mounds where families lived and buried their dead.
Amateur archaeologist Forrest Travirca III, who found some of the first artefacts, says some of the dwellings were built along a meandering bayou that has been lost to sea-level rise and land loss.
Many artefacts appear to be washing in. Archaeologists say the sites date to about 700 A.D., well before the earliest known European contact in the 1500s.
Author: Cain Burdeau | Source: The Associated Press [July 17, 2011]
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| Forrest Travirca III walks along Port Fourchon Beach as he searches for artifacts from prehistoric American Indian settlements in Caminada Headland, La. Bone, pieces of pottery and deer antlers have given clues to the ancient tribes [Credit: Gerald Herbert/Associated Press] |
So far, teams of archaeologists hired by the oil giant have visited more than 100 sites and sent back a growing list of finds to labs for radio carbon dating and other tests, though extensive excavations haven't been done. Scholars have also accompanied cleanup crews to make sure they don't unwittingly throw away relics.
The disaster that began when the Deepwater Horizon exploded in April 2010 has highlighted the need to protect the sites, but a government scientist says neither their discovery — nor the money to study them — would have come as quickly without the spill.
"We're filling in gaps. There is some pioneering archaeological work going on as a result of the oil spill," said Larry Murphy, lead archaeologist for a council of government agencies and trustees overseeing the oil cleanup.
He said uncovering the sites, many of them prehistoric, represents "a great leap in cumulative knowledge" about American Indians in coastal Louisiana, who have been less studied than their counterparts in other regions.
Still, the oil represents an added threat to an area that already was under siege from land loss and rising sea levels. Oil has contaminated some artifacts and can interfere with radiocarbon dating, a primary technique for determining the age of an object. Many shores are still scattered with tar balls.
Louisiana's state archaeologist, Charles McGimsey, said the extent of the oil damage to artefacts isn't known, but he doesn't expect it to be disastrous.The Associated Press was given a rare glimpse of several sites in June during a guided tour of the Caminada Headland by land warden and amateur archaeologist Forrest Travirca III. The beaches are closed to the public, and the locations of archaeological sites are being closely guarded to prevent looting.
Prehistoric artefacts had been found and recorded on the headland before the spill, but not to the extent now being done. Travirca began finding more of them while keeping watch for BP's black oil last summer on a remote stretch of beach that looks onto the silhouettes of oil rigs and platforms. The headland was one of the hardest-hit spots.
"I was walking on marine shell, rangia clam shell, walking out on a point I know, when I looked down, found a pot sherd, and then I started finding more and more," Travirca said.
So far, archaeologists have limited their examination to the surface of the sites here, scouring the beaches at low tides. They have found deer antlers that probably were used as spear heads, decorated pieces of pottery and gar fish scales that might have been used as darts. Human bones have been reburied in keeping with the wishes of the Chitimacha tribe, which has links to the ancient settlements.
Richard Weinstein, an archaeologist who specializes in coastal Louisiana Indians, said the preponderance of deer bones and antlers found since the spill is fascinating because it indicates the area was once forested with ridges.
"The fact that the Indians in the area were hunting deer to the extent that these guys did makes it very interesting because the coast we have there today is busted-up marsh," he said. "There aren't that many stands of trees and vegetation left."
About the artefacts
Many American Indian artefacts uncovered since the BP oil spill come from middens, or mounds where families lived and buried their dead.
Amateur archaeologist Forrest Travirca III, who found some of the first artefacts, says some of the dwellings were built along a meandering bayou that has been lost to sea-level rise and land loss.
Many artefacts appear to be washing in. Archaeologists say the sites date to about 700 A.D., well before the earliest known European contact in the 1500s.
Author: Cain Burdeau | Source: The Associated Press [July 17, 2011]