BASICPRINCIPLES – MAKING THEMOST OF THECLUES 29
While a site was active or occupied, its environment
would have influenced many aspects of life (e.g. the form
of structures, the clothes that were worn, available
sources of food). The environment of an area can change
dramatically over time and reconstructing past land-
scapes is fundamental to interpreting the remains of past
societies. For example, temporary campsites linked to
ice-age migrations have been found in what are now
temperate regions. Clearly they are not understandable
by reference to their current environment. Boat-finds
have been made in what appear to be landlocked areas.
Studies of changes in the local environment have often
shown that the area was previously closer to the sea or
an inland waterway and so the find can be put in its
proper context.
Archaeology under water, in the same way as archae-
ology on land, is likely to be concerned with the study
of reactions to environmental factors. The sea, inland
waterways and lakes can be seen to have had considerable
influence on human populations. Seas and rivers offered
a plentiful supply of food, but to obtain this food reliably,
certain problems had to be solved: the construction
of boats, fishing equipment, fish processing and storage
techniques. Water offers the opportunity for travel and
communication or trade, but again to take advantage
of the potential opportunities, humans had to develop
methods of surviving in that environment.
Having shaped activities in the past, the environment
then shapes how evidence of the past survives. This can
vary in scale from chemical changes in soil to erosion
by sea or river action.
The environment can often be a major initial influence
in terms of deposition. Material may move into the
archaeological record from sites occupied in areas prone
to flooding, earthquake or volcanic eruption in a very
different way from those in a stable, temperate zone. The
aquatic environment’s influence on deposition can be
very significant. The most obvious and dramatic example
is that of a shipwreck. The sinking of a vessel results in a
group of associated material arriving on the sea-bed in one
event, although of course it may be scattered to varying
degrees. This factor can be very useful for archaeolo-
gists, as has been discussed above. Water can also cause
deposition by abandonment: rising sea-levels can force
occupation sites to be abandoned. However, this process
of deposition will take place over a period of time asFigure 4.11 Simplified version of the site-formation process (top left to bottom right). The vessel lies across the pre-
vailing current, which results in mechanical and biological degradation, leading to the breakdown of the superstructure
and localized scouring. At the same time, the vessel sinks deeper into the sea-bed. In time the site stabilizes until human
interference, which results in new scour patterns and infill that should be easily identifiable in the stratigraphic record.
(Drawing by Graham Scott)