Shifting sites and shifting sands: a record of prehistoric human/landscape interactions from Porcupine Strand, Labrador

• Main Author: Smith, Jennifer Suzanne
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2005
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/11445/; https://research.library.mun.ca/11445/1/Smith_JenniferSuzanne.pdf

Porcupine Strand, on the central coast of Labrador, has experienced dramatic landscape changes since deglaciation: sea level has fallen over 110m; the former nearshore seabed now lies exposed, forming the coastal lowlands; powerful glacier-fed braided rivers flowed across the northern lowlands, carrying sand and gravel to the sea; with sea-level change, the coastline configuration has evolved from a large indented embayment to a relatively straight shoreline. Although most of this landscape change occurred quite rapidly during the two or three millennia following deglaciation, considerable change must have been witnessed by humans since they first occupied the Strand over 7200 ¹⁴C BP. Perhaps the most notable of these were changes in sea level and related coastline displacement, climate variability and its impact on landscape processes (e.g., coastal erosion, sand dune activity), and vegetation change. Because prehistoric cultures relied heavily on marine resources and located their habitation sites close to the active shoreline, the position of ancient shorelines is critical in planning archaeological surveys and interpreting site function in the context of local environment and landscape. -- The primary objectives of this research are: (1) to refine postglacial relative sea-level history using new radiocarbon-dated geological and archaeological samples; (2) to reconstruct palaeoshoreline elevation and configuration for selected time slices using relative sea-level records, topography and mapped raised marine features; and (3) to interpret the local landscape context of archaeological sites preserved in sand dunes and on raised beaches. -- Two 1:50,000 scale surficial geology maps (13H114 E and Wand 13I/3 W) were prepared from aerial photograph interpretation and limited field mapping as baseline data for the study. Glaciofluvial sand and gravel, deposited in front of the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, constitute a large proportion of the surficial sediment in the map area. Coastal exposures, extending tens ...