Posted on 12/04/2005 2:30:58 PM PST by Fractal Trader
Scientists mapping the seabed under a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound were stunned by their find: evidence of a submerged forest under 6 feet of mud.
It's hardly the lost city of Atlantis, but the piece of birch wood, the yellowish-green grass, soil, and insect parts appear to be part of a forest floor that lined the coastline 5,500 years ago, before being swallowed by the sea that rose after the last ice age. Nearby is evidence of a drowned kettle pond and marsh.
The find has scientists abuzz because if a preserved forest rests below the sea, maybe artifacts from ancient cultures do, too -- items that could help answer some of the most vexing questions about early people in North America. As more energy projects are proposed off New England, archaeologists say, there will be more opportunity for even bigger finds.
''We've been arguing for years whether there are remnant prehistoric landscapes out there and now we know they can exist," said Victor Mastone, director and chief archaeologist of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources. ''This means there is the potential to go after the big theory of how did people get here and how they lived."
Cape Wind Associates, which has proposed the wind farm, redesigned the 130-turbine project this year to avoid the discovered area.
So much of the world's water was locked up in glaciers during the ice age, ocean levels plummeted at least 300 feet. New England's continental shelf was exposed and in some places, the coastline extended more than 75 miles from its current location.
[SNIP]
The earliest evidence of Native Americans in New England has come from around this time -- a period when hunters could have walked from Falmouth to Nantucket.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
GGG ping
Global warming. Bush's great-great-great-great-great grandfather's fault.
Thanks for the post. It's a shame Barry Fell isn't alive to see this- he wrote, "America B.C."
I have some 7,000 year old wood from a forest at the bottom of Santa Rosa Sound, Florida.
. . .LOL. . .good one!
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"I have some 7,000 year old wood"
That's some long acting viagra, old man! Might want to see a doctor about that.
Bingo!
Spotted Sea Owl Alert!
And a 300-500ft increase in sea-level might seem like a world-wide flood to those experiencing it, don't you think?
Will this be taken by the UN as a World Heritage site?
> ... if a preserved forest rests below the sea, maybe
> artifacts from ancient cultures do, too ...
Surviving Naragansett indians, horrified at the prospect
of Viking beer mugs turning up, have demanded that this
all be declared presumptive sacred tribal lands, not open
to any discovery of actual facts.
Blowing in the Wind...
Still Waiting for Greenhouse | 22 Nov 03 | John Daly
Posted on 11/22/2003 11:00:57 AM PST by Dan Evans
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1027127/posts
Report sees few drawbacks on wind farm (off Nantucket)
Boston Globe | 11/08/2004 | Beth Daley
Posted on 11/08/2004 6:21:29 AM PST by worldclass
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1274236/posts
Energy agency lauds wind farm (Limousine Liberals losing ground)
Cape Cod Times | April 14, 2005 | Kevin Dennehy
Posted on 04/14/2005 11:46:53 AM PDT by DTogo
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1383738/posts
Wind-farm backers call on Kennedy, Romney
capecodonline.com | 11/9/05 | By DAVID KIBBE
Posted on 11/24/2005 7:29:04 PM PST by paltz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1528178/posts
Interesting.
No more than a glacier's advance seems like an avalanche. They both happen at about the same speed.
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