Eastern Atlantic Coast

doi:10.1017/CHO9781139017831.082

2.34 - Eastern Atlantic Coast

from VI. - The Americas

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014

Elizabeth S. Chilton and

Meredith D. Hardy

Edited by

Colin Renfrew and

Paul Bahn

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Elizabeth S. Chilton: Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts
Meredith D. Hardy: Affiliation:
NPS-Southeast Archaeological Center, Regionwide Archeological Survey Program, Florida
Colin Renfrew: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

For the purpose of this chapter, we divide the region into a northeastern and southeastern Atlantic Coast (referred to hereafter as the Northeast and the Southeast), noting the similarities and differences in the two regions’ prehistory. Both regions have a long history of archaeological research stretching back to some of the earliest archaeological work in North America during the 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g., Jeffries Wyman, Frederick Ward Putnam, C. C. Abbott and William Henry Holmes).

Ecological Setting

The Northeast includes the modern states of New England and New York: this is essentially the previously glaciated northeastern United States. The Northeast includes two primary eco-regions (areas of general homogeneity in ecosystems and their components: geology, physiography and hydrology, vegetation, soil, climate and wildlife), (1) the coastal plain and (2) the interior highlands, which are bisected by a range of both large and small river valleys (Map 2.34.1). The Northeast also includes a series of large and small offshore islands that were formed during the Pleistocene, mostly by glacial moraines, and which are overlain by outwash deposits. These islands and landforms include Long Island, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and a series of smaller islands.

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge World Prehistory , pp. 1293 - 1308

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.082 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2014

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