KEVEOKI 1: Exploring the Hiri ceramics trade at a short-lived village site near the Vailala River, Papua New Guinea

Investigations at the newly discovered, once-coastal but now inland archaeological village site of Keveoki 1 allows us to characterise the nature and antiquity of ancestral hiri trade ceramics around 450-500 cal BP in the recipient Vailala River- Kea Kea villages of the Gulf Province of the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. This paper reports on the decorated ceramics from Keveoki 1, where a drainage channel cut in 2004 revealed a short-lived village site with a rich, stratified ceramic assemblage. It represents a rare account of the ceramic assemblage from a short duration village on a relic beach ridge in southern Papua New Guinea, and contributes to ongoing attempts to refine ceramic sequences in the recipient (western) end of the hiri system of longdistance maritime trade. Because of the presence of a single occupational period of a few decades at most, short duration sites such as Keveoki 1 allow for chronological refinement of ceramic conventions in a way that multilevel sites usually cannot, owing to the lack of stratigraphic mixing between chronologically separate ceramic assemblages in the former.

Evaluation of phosphorous fixation capacity on river alluvium, beach ridge and coastal plain sand of Akwa ibom state, Nigeria

Phosphorous fixation capacities of selected parent materials in Akwa Ibom State were assessed. The soils used were those derived from river alluvium, beach ridge sand and coastal plain sand. These soils were incubated with four rates of P ranging from 0, 20, 40, 80 mgl-l prepared from KH2PO4 and incubated for 1, 7, 30, 60 and 90 days. The design was 3 x 4 factorial experiment (3 soil types and 4 rates of P) fitted into Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. At a set day, the exchangeable and water-soluble (available) P were extracted with Bray P – I extractant and P not extracted by this extractant was considered fixed in the soils, using fractional recovery of P to obtained. The results showed that the available P in the soils decrease with days of incubation. Beach ridge sand had the highest fractional recovery of P while river alluvium had the least. The trend were beach ridge sand (5.04 gkg-1) > coastal plain sand (2.34 gkg-1) > river alluvium (1.07 gkg-1). The recovery of P increase with increasing P addition. The fixing capacity of the soils increased in this order: river alluvium (97%) > coastal plain sand (92%) > beach ridge sand (84%). The result also revealed that the amount of P fixed increases with increasing rates of P addition.

A 5700-year-old beach-ridge set at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and its implication for Holocene sea-level history in the southeastern USA

The Cape Canaveral Peninsula is the largest Holocene coastal sand deposit composed of beach ridges on the Atlantic coast of Florida. It is composed of 16 beach-ridge sets that are separated by erosional surfaces. Despite its prominence as a Holocene coastal depocenter, there are a limited amount of chronological data constraining the timing of its formation. In this study, we apply optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating on sand-sized quartz and radiocarbon dating on individual marine shells to develop a refined chronology of the Cape Canaveral beach-ridge plain with particular focus on constraining the depositional age of the northwesterly-most, and geographically oldest, beach-ridge set on the peninsula. We obtain an average OSL age of 5680 ± 240 years ( n = 4) for the initiation of coastal deposition at Cape Canaveral. The new ages, and the organization of beach ridges into 16 distinct sets indicates that the Cape Canaveral beach-ridge plain experienced an ~5700-year history of alternating deposition and erosion, with 75% of present-day Cape Canaveral (Beach-ridge Sets 5–16) deposited over the past 2000 years and Beach-ridge Sets 8–16 comprising 50% of the area over the past 1000 years. Because the minimum swale elevations of the ~5700-year Beach-ridge Set 1, and those of all the younger beach-ridge sets, are within several decimeters of present-day mean higher high water, we hypothesize that all the beach ridges present at Cape Canaveral could have been deposited at or within decimeters of present-day sea level. There is no evidence for Holocene “highstand” events over the past 5700 years in the published sea level curves from northeast and south Florida, which are based on subsurface estuarine foraminifera/leaf litter and mangrove peat data, respectively. This dichotomy illustrates the need to integrate both subaerial and subsurface data to produce a more realistic Holocene sea-level curve for the southeastern United States.

Production Sites on the Beach Ridge of Järavallen: Aspects on Tool Preforms, Action, Technology, Ritual and the Continuity of Place

Järavallen is the name of a beach ridge along the south and south-west coasts of Scania in the southern part of Sweden. Large amounts of flinttool preforms, particularly for square-sectioned Neolithic axes, have been found on three sites along this beach ridge. The several thousand preforms represent tool types from the Early Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. The three sites have not been given much attention in recent archaeological research. With a basis in a discussion of action, technology, ritual and the continuity of place, these three sites are analysed and interpreted as representing traditions involving repeated actions over a long period of time. The production and deposition of the preforms are seen as an investment for the future.

Holocene evolution of a barrier-spit complex and the interaction of tidal and wave processes, Inskip Peninsula, SE Queensland, Australia

This paper presents a reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Inskip Peninsula in SE Queensland. The peninsula links two major dune fields, the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south and K’gari (Fraser Island) to the north. Geomorphic features of this peninsula include remnant parabolic dunes, numerous beach ridges with foredunes, and a series of spits. Together these features provide insight into Holocene coastal evolution and changing marine conditions. A remnant beach ridge/foredune complex at the northern portion of Inskip may have been connected to K’gari and a river/tidal channel near Rainbow Beach township which separated it from the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south. This channel avulsed northward in the early mid-Holocene (after 8.8 ka) with spit development from the south. This was followed by a phase of beach-ridge/foredune complex development that started by ~6.7 ka. Stratigraphic evidence from the highest and best developed parabolic dunes in the northern portion of Inskip Peninsula indicates dune development from the mid-Holocene beach complex by 4.8 ka. Beach ridges with foredunes continued to prograde but notably declined in size during the late-Holocene. In the latest Holocene (<4.8 ka) many of the late-Holocene beach ridges/foredune complexes have been truncated by a re-orientation of the shoreline and longshore sediment transport has promoted the growth of the modern spit at the northern end of the peninsula. Erosive and longshore processes continue to be highly active because of tidal interactions between Great Sandy Strait and the Coral Sea. This detailed study of Inskip Peninsula’s evolution aids significantly in future coastal management decisions, and provides evidence for World Heritage Area extension for the Cooloola Sand Mass, including the incorporation of Inskip Peninsula itself. It also contributes to the global understanding to coastal evolution in an area of strong wave and tidal interaction.

Rainfalls And Salinity Effects On Fecal Coliform Most Probable Number (MPN) Index Distribution In A Beach Ridge-Shore Ridge System In Mengabang Telipot, Terengganu, Malaysia

A Holocene beach ridge and present day shore ridge system located in a rural area north east of Kuala Terengganu was studied. The relation between fecal coliform (FC) MPN Index (Most Probable Number) distribution with rainfalls and saline intrusions into the unconfined aquifer of the beach ridge–shore ridge system was examined. The probable primary source of the pollutants was also investigated in order to highlight the susceptibility of such aquifers to pollution. Six sampling sessions were made from September 2009 to January 2010. Three represent drier conditions and the other 3, heavier rainfalls corresponding to the northeast monsoon season. This sampling period represent a condition when this area was still not subjected to major coastal erosions and subsequent rock revetment work. Altogether, water samples were taken from 13 wells and 3 river stations. Physical-chemical measurements were made in-situ, while FC was tested at UMT laboratory. Essentially, the results indicated that the groundwater in the unconfined aquifer layer of the beach ridge was moderately to highly polluted with FC (up to 1600 MPN). In contrast, the shore ridge was only slightly polluted, whereas river stations had mixed conditions but generally worse than the beach ridge and shore ridge. These phenomena could be associated with salinity spatial-temporal variations. Samples from heavy rainfall conditions indicated lower pollution levels compared to drier conditions. This phenomenon could be associated with the availability of more infiltrated atmospheric water to dilute pollutants in a high hydraulic conductivity environment as the ridges are made of fine to coarse sands. The results underscore the sensitivity of such environment to pollution transport and distribution and hence implied special attention with regards to water resource management.

A study on the interaction between extreme waves and coastal development processes for identification of tsunami and storm deposits in the tsunami far-field

&lt;p&gt;In order to estimate the size and the origin of giant tsunamis, it is useful to investigate &amp;#8220;tsunami far-field&amp;#8221; as the coastal area far from the source. However, it is challenging to distinguish a tsunami deposit from an extreme storm deposit in these areas. In this study, we report sand layers induced by extreme waves on the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, facing the southern Kuril Trench. In the study area (central part of the Hidaka coast), it is said that the tsunamis caused by observed earthquakes have never exceeded the dune or beach. However, geological evidence indicates that giant earthquakes and tsunamis occurred at intervals of several hundred years in the Kuril Trench, and the traces of these tsunamis are still unclear in the Hidaka region.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study area can be classified into the inland zone consisting of peatland and the seaward zone consisting of floodplain muds by the paleo beach ridge. We identified three volcanic ash layers and three to four sand layers with clear boundaries to the ordinary mud layer in each zone. However, there are large gaps in the ages of the sand layers discovered in both inland and seaward zones, and their distributions are limited (ranging from a few tens to 100 m from the ridge at that time) and do not overlap. To understand the peculiarities of the depositional age and distribution of the sand layers, we clarified the sedimentary environmental changes and sea-level index in the late Holocene by analyzing the diatom assemblage and CNS of the mud layer. The inland zone showed the paleoenvironments from the sandy tidal flat formed by the transgression in the mid-Holocene to the beach ridge formed by the regression, and the sheet sand layers were formed only during the period of the beach ridge development. On the other hand, the seaward zone showed various changes due to the formation of meandering rivers and beach ridges associated with the regression, and the formation of recognizable event layers is accompanied by changes in the depositional environment, such as the opening of lagoons and rapid changes to upland. Thus, especially in the tsunami far-field, the preservation potential of the event layers is strongly influenced by the coastal development and relative sea level, and such geological information will provide clues to identify the origin of the sand layer. In the presentation, the numerical simulation of the paleo-tsunami considering the reconstructed relative sea-level change and topographic development will be reported.&lt;/p&gt;

Investigating the sedimentary DNA of palaeotsunami deposits in Thailand.

&lt;p&gt;Investigating palaeotsunami deposits is a primary way to extend the tsunami database beyond relatively short instrumental and historical records. Such information is essential to reconstruct the frequency and magnitude of past coastal flooding events, which are a key to assess the impact and risk of tsunami to the coastal community. However, palaeotsunami studies are limited as most of the proxies, such as microfossil and geochemical signals, can be modified or degraded with time. Here, we present the application of DNA analysis to investigate a series of palaeotsunami deposits up to ~2800-years-old from a coastal beach ridge sequence on Phra Thong Island (Thailand). Our result shows that it is possible to accurately discriminate palaeotsunami deposits from intercalating organic mud layers using the microbial communities recovered from DNA preserved in the sediment of the geological record. Our work demonstrates that environmental DNA represents a new and promising tool for investigating historical and pre-historical tsunami records.&lt;/p&gt;

Distinguishing Late Holocene Storm Deposit From Shore-normal Beach Sediments From the Gulf of Thailand

Grain size, as one of sedimentological proxies, coupled with a detailed description of the sedimentary structures and luminescence dating were used to unveil the sediment sources and transport process of the Holocene ancient coastal storm events recorded in the beach ridge plain, wet swale and muddy environments at Prachuap Khiri Khan, in the Southern Peninsula of Thailand. In this study, a total of 141 sand samples were collected from the shore-normal ridge-swale topography and analyzed for layers of candidate storm deposits, revealing at least 21 candidate coastal storm events. The grain size distribution of beach sediments was, in general, unimodal, while the candidate storm sediments revealed a mixed combination of multimodal, bimodal and unimodal distributions. Plots of mean grain size against skewness and kurtosis and of skewness against kurtosis could differentiate storm deposits from shore-normal beach sediments. Sedimentary structures preserved in the ancient coastal storm deposits included parallel and inclined landward laminations, mud rip-up clasts, layers of shell fragments, a pebble grain, normal and reverse grading and sharp lower and upper contacts. Candidate storm layers overlain on a dry beach ridge intervened with mud in a swale showed a finer and thinner landward deposit. Marine shell fragments, smaller foraminifers, ostracod and scaphopod (tusk shell), were well preserved. Based on optically stimulated luminescence dating and a correlated accelerator mass spectrometry age, multiple layers of sand derived from different frequencies of coastal storms were deposited over the middle to late Holocene.