Heritage at Risk? : An Assessment of Environmental Factors in Archaeological Site Damage in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina

Abstract

This thesis is a multi-disciplinary geological and maritime archaeological study. This study's purpose is to create exploratory models that utilize analyses of geophysical factors within and around northeastern North Carolina's Albemarle Estuarine System in relation to archaeological sites there. These models should help determine what sites are being threatened within the Albemarle Estuarine System's shore zone. Four geological aspects will be analyzed: waves derived from wind, shoreline erosion, sediment accumulation, and inundation from sea-level rise. By analyzing these four properties, change over time and possible patterns of potential site damage within Albemarle Sound can be monitored. In addition to studying those four principles, the recent maritime archaeological research of Franklin Price (2006), Adam Friedman (2008), and Amy Leuchtmann (2011) regarding intertidal terrestrial site dispersal in Albemarle Sound will be compared with geologic data. Combined, the two datasets endeavor to model environmental phenomena of significance in predicting damage to archaeological sites in and around the shore zone.