ERIE, Pa. - After storms off the Florida coast scuttled the much-anticipated expedition for submerged evidence of early Americans in the Gulf of Mexico last August, plans are under way to commence the fourth installment of this pioneering adventure July 20-29. At the helm are chief scientists Dr. James Adovasio and Dr. C. Andrew Hemmings of Mercyhurst University.
Adovasio and Hemmings are investigating ancient submerged coastlines in the northeastern Gulf to determine where early Americans might have lived more than 12,000 years ago when the underwater terrain was dry land. "Exploring the Submerged New World" is a signature expedition of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
Before weather abruptly halted last year's mission, the scientific team had made good progress by relocating its primary sites, making several successful dives and operating new dredging equipment and remote sensing tools intended to expose fossil remains and stone artifacts. The sites are covered by 40 to 130 feet of ocean water and are located between 50 to 125 miles offshore of the modern Gulf Coast of Florida northwest of Tampa.
"We are ready to hit the sites running and this time we have 10 individuals with diving certifications that will enable us to dive to greater depths and cover more area," Adovasio said.
The NOAA-funded mission began off the Florida coast in the summer of 2008 when scientists identified and mapped buried river channels of the Pleistocene Suwannee River that are now filled with multiple layers of sediment. In the summer of 2009, they further traced the river systems along whose beaches prehistoric people may have populated and identified raw materials that they may have used in tool-making.
Both Adovasio and Hemmings, one of the leading Paleoindian underwater archaeologists in North America, are confident that they are at the threshold of discovering lifestyles that may not have a parallel in the archaeological record of North America because they are under water and never before seen.
They expect the study's findings will contribute to our understanding of early humans in North America, including the timing of their arrival, lifestyles and migration patterns, and may add further proof that the peopling of the western hemisphere was a lengthier and more complicated process than is typically believed.
Adovasio, best known for his work at the pre-Clovis Meadowcroft Rockshelter in southwestern Pennsylvania that revealed human artifacts dating back 14,000 to 16,000 years, has stood at the vanguard of First Americans studies for decades. The opportunity to extend his reach from the terrestrial to the nautical comes with the recognition that as far back as 22,000 years ago a substantial portion of Earth's water was in the form of glacial ice atop the continents. Today, he said, more than 9 million square miles of what used to be coastlines around the world are underwater and may well represent the first chapter in the peopling of the Americas.
Adovasio and Hemmings are expected to depart July 20 on the research vessel, "Weatherbird II," with a research team that includes Dr. Thomas Loebel of St. Xavier University, Mercyhurst University alumni Kim Smith and Ben Wells, Mercyhurst undergraduate Jamie Badams of Erie, filmmaker David Ulloa, Dr. Ryan Duggins of Florida State University and several graduate students representing other U.S. academic institutions, including the University of Florida, University of West Florida and Texas A & M.
Besides NOAA, the operation is funded by Mercyhurst University, much of the latter institution's commitment in in-kind services. The research vessel and crew are leased through the Florida Institute of Oceanography at the University of South Florida.