The number of dams and reservoirs in the world is at an all-time high, with global increases expected as water shortages, populations and needs for electricity grow. Despite this high number of existent and planned reservoirs, the archaeological sites submerged in reservoirs have been largely ignored saving predevelopment, project-specific archaeological salvage campaigns. The overlooking of submerged archaeological features derives from ideas that sites in reservoirs are destroyed: a notion that continues to permeate discussions surrounding archaeological features in reservoir flood zones. Heritage legislation, at both the domestic and international level, continues to neglect the pressing issue of monitoring the condition of submerged archaeology. This dissertation analyses the domestic heritage legislation of three specific countries (Britain, the USA and Egypt) and heritage legislation at the international level. Effects of submergence on diverse archaeological features from those countries are also taken into account via the data collected from varying types of archaeological investigation: the desk-based assessment, underwater archaeological fieldwork, and non-intrusive terrestrial fieldwork. Analysis of current legal structures suggests that mechanisms with which to monitor sites and provide mitigating measures would be simple to implement and maintain. Data collected through underwater archaeological fieldwork in Britain and terrestrial archaeological fieldwork in the USA suggests that not all types of archaeological sites are at risk of destruction due to submergence, leading to a classification of vulnerable features, determined on the basis of location in the reservoir and construction materials and methods. Mitigating and monitoring measures of these vulnerable feature classifications can be used in future reservoir planning and archaeological conservation efforts, when combined with changes to regional and domestic heritage policy. Final conclusions focus on the need to classify archaeology in reservoirs as "submerged landscapes", an already recognized underwater archaeological category, thereby helping to grant the long-needed protection, awareness and monitoring these features need throughout their duration in situ.

No / Abstract: This paper focuses on the submerged landscapes of the southern North Sea, an area often referred to as Doggerland, which was inundated as a result of relative sea-level rise at the start of the Holocene. The timing, pattern and process of environmental changes and the implica­ tions for prehistoric (Mesolithic) human communities living in this area have long been a subject of debate and discussion. Recent developments in marine geophysics have pemtitted the mapping of the pre-submergence landscape, leading to the identification oflandforms including river channels and other contexts suitable for the preservation of palaeoecological records. The paper describes multi-proxy (pollen, foraminifera, plant macrofossil and insect) palaeoenvironmental analyses of a vibrocore sequence recovered from a palaeochannel feature c. 80 km off the coast of eastern England. The palaeocbsnnel preserves sediments of Late Pleistocene and Holocene age (MIS2/l); the record suggests that channel incision, probably duting the early Holocene, was followed by a phase of peat formation (c. 9-10 cal ka BP) indicating paludification and the subsequent reactiva­ tion of the cbsnnel (c. 9-6 cal ka BP), initially under freshwater and increasingly brackish/saline conditions, and a final transition to full marine conditions (6-5 cal ka BP). The pollen, macrofossil and beetle records indicate the presence of pre-submergence deciduous woodland, but detailed interpretation of the data is hindered by taphonomic complications.The paper concludes with a dis­ cussion of the problems and potentials of using palaeoenvironmental data to reconstruct complex patterns of environmental change across Doggerland in four dimensions, and considers specific questions concerning the implications of such processes for Mesolithic human communities.

No / The submerged landscape of the North Sea has long been known by archaeologists as an area of Mesolithic occupation, yet despite this the nature of the occupation of this landscape has remained poorly understood due to the submergence of the landscape. This paper presents the results of a “first pass" study to produce an initial model of the carrying capacity of the landscape and its associated demography. This model seeks to explore the impacts of sea level driven landscape change upon the Mesolithic population. The model reveals the diversity of resources present in this landscape and the potential these had to buffer human subsistence from the effects of marine inundation.

Yes

This paper presents the results of a pilot landscape-scale seismic survey undertaken in Apalachee Bay, Florida, across a submerged landscape that contains dozens of Pre-Contact sites. In addition to the goals of improving the geophysical and remote sensing ground model for this submerged landscape, the survey also sought to undertake the first independent scientific test of the contentious ‘HALD’ methodology, an acoustic resonance method that it is claimed to identify knapped lithic artefacts at and/ or below the seabed through the identification of distinct ‘haystack’ responses. The results of this work indicate that the HALD method, as currently described, produces results that could not be scientifically replicated in this survey. We conclude that any HALD ‘haystack’ signal should therefore not be considered as an example of detection of human-modified lithic material but rather as a geophysical anomaly that requires additional constraints before it can be used to reliably identify human-modified lithic materials. Thus, although the authors note that laboratory studies have successfully produced an acoustic signal in human-modified lithics, the field-based methods remain yet to be reliably determined. In addition to these results, the landscape mapping survey also recorded valuable information on buried and previously unrecorded landscape features that have archaeological significance and that may guide future site prospection. We therefore conclude that despite the results of the HALD test, the well-preserved submerged landscape of Apalachee Bay region provides a highly useful testing ground for methods that can be deployed elsewhere globally. / UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for the Life on the Edge Project (LOTE) via a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (Grant No. MR/W007797/1).

Yes / The subject area of the Europe's Lost Frontiers project, the submerged landscape of Doggerland, is inaccessible and the data by which we can understand it is complex and hard for the non-specialist to understand. In order to be able to present the project at public events, an Augmented Reality sandbox was constructed, which records the shape of sand in a box, interprets it as a landscape inhabited by humans, animals and plants, and projects this simulated land back on to the sand. Different software packages can be used to highlight the effects of climate change or provide examples of the different types of evidence available to archaeologists researching submerged landscapes. The end result is an interactive, accessible display which attracts all ages and can be used as a starting point to conversation regarding the project's archaeological, scientific and technological aspects.

Investigating the archaeology of submerged landscapes beneath many metres of sea and buried under modern sands requires an understanding of the terrestrial surface as it may have been prior to the inundation. To do this, environmental evidence is required from contextualised in-situ locations and the best material evidence for preservation of archaeology, organic remains, dating proxies, pollen, diatoms, microfossils, coleoptera etc. is peat. This research supports the search for peat in submarine environments by interpreting seismic surveys of the sub-sea floor and analysing reflective signals for distinctive organic responses. By means of sedimental analysis and ground observation, the research sets out to differentiate between organic signals, to allow for the identification and location of shallow peat beds within features of a palaeolandscape. Using these results should provide an opportunity to target such peat beds in an archaeologically focused coring programme. The research also examines ways in which organic responses may be mapped over larger areas in order to integrate the results into a wider scale landscape model identifying potential peatland, marsh, valley fen and lowland areas. Finally, the research introduces an artificial intelligence neural networking technology for the identification of organic interfaces in seismic surveys, examining three different ways in which this could be accomplished using specialist computer tools and software.