Conceptualizing the Archaeology of North America’s Atlantic Seacoast and Estuaries

Abstract

From the icy shores of Labrador to the warm mangroves of the Florida Keys, North America’s Atlantic Coast was a magnet for human subsistence and settlement for millennia. North America’s Atlantic Coast is a land of diversity united by rich coastal and terrestrial ecosystems that were home to a wide variety of Native American societies and distinct cultural adaptations and systems. This introductory chapter synthesizes the coastal archaeology as well as historical ecology and paleography of North America’s Atlantic Coast, focusing on major research developments of the last 30 years. It also provides the context and framework for the rest of the volume.