For Y'all Data - Seagrass Meadows: An Underwater Fourth Dimension Capsule For Archaeology

The close beautiful meadows are to endure flora along the world’s sandy coasts: Seagrass. It lines the seafloor similar an enormous carpet. In the Nordics, shallow coastal waters are dominated past times the seagrass "eelgrass" (Zostera marina).

Amphora inwards a meadow of sea grass (Posidonia oceanica) inwards the Cyclades inwards Hellenic Republic
[Credit: Julius Glampedakis]

Seagrass has some of import functions, such equally removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, together with protecting our coasts from sea grade rise, together with boosting biodiversity.

But seagrass tin create fifty-fifty to a greater extent than than that. An international enquiry projection has right away documented how seagrass too protects our cultural history. The results are published inwards the mag Ambio.

How seagrass protects archaeology

Numerous archaeological treasures lay only a stone’s throw from the coast: Stone Age settlements inwards Denmark, Phoenician, Roman together with Greek shipwrecks amongst their cargo inwards the Mediterranean Sea, together with to a greater extent than recent wrecks inwards Australia.

Underwater meadows stabilise the seafloor past times dampening moving ridge unloosen energy together with forming a stabilising network of roots together with stems.

Roman amphorae from a belatedly Roman shipwreck at ca. 32 m depth inwards South Prasonisi islet (Greece),
site surrounded past times seagrass meadows [Credit: T. Theodoulou]

They too construct upwardly the seabed past times capturing remains of seaweed together with other particles inwards mat-like layers, burying deeper sediments together with protecting anything buried inside them equally the seagrass continues to grow.

And they assistance to supply the correct weather condition needed to save archaeological treasures past times locking out oxygen, which mightiness otherwise promote degradation.

And so, the organic together with chemic construction of seagrass meadows creates a type of underwater fourth dimension capsule that tin encase together with protect shipwrecks or Stone Age settlements, for thousands of years.

Treasures lurking inwards Danish seagrass meadows

In Europe, many settlements were inundated past times rising seas during the Holocene – the geological epoch that began subsequently the halt of the final H2O ice age, 11,700 years ago, together with was characterised past times rising sea levels subsequently the H2O ice melted.

With time, these sites became covered inwards sediments together with colonised past times seagrass.

Under these meadows today, lay a issue of particular finds. For example, close the Danish isle of Nekselø, you lot tin abide by a good preserved wooden fish traps from the early on Stone Age. And off the Fyn coast, at that spot are remnants of wood, pottery, together with beast bones, along amongst intact burials from the belatedly Stone Age.

All of these are preserved to this day, cheers to seagrass.

These archaeological sites supply a unique insight into the life together with cultural weather condition of the past. And at that spot are many other similar sites inwards the Danish coastal areas together with roughly the world.

Seagrass equally a historic archive

The gradual build-up of the seabed over the millennia provides insights into human activities throughout history. We tin too occupation seagrass equally a type of archive that nosotros tin dig inwards to together with report the past.

Seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) inwards Serifos, Hellenic Republic amongst its protective hugger-mugger structures
[Credit: Thanos Dailianis]

Dates together with chemic analyses of the thick deposits underneath seagrass inwards the Mediterranean (Posidonia oceanica, encounter the 2nd photograph inwards the gallery at the move past times of this article), give us a glimpse of how soil was used inwards agriculture together with metallic extraction.

Analyses of to a greater extent than recent deposits expose a driblet inwards Pb content, associated amongst the transition to unleaded fuel.

We should protect seagrass piece nosotros nonetheless can

But seagrass is non invincible. It is sensitive to pitiable H2O quality, physical damage, together with estrus waves.

"In our study," says Dorte Krause-Jensen from Aarhus University, Denmark, "we document how the loss of seagrass has exposed archaeological sites, including shipwrecks, axe handles, beast bones, together with more, representing a loss of cultural history."

Diver investigates remains of a wattle mat from the younger Stone Age preserved
under seagrass at Nekselø, Kingdom of Denmark [Credit: National Museum of Denmark]

"Seagrass retains carbon inwards the seabed, hence counteracting global warming, it protects the coasts past times damping the moving ridge energy, together with promotes biodiversity inwards our coastal areas. And so, marine archaeologists together with marine biologists are inwards a race against fourth dimension to protect vulnerable meadows."

"In the final few years, the powerfulness of marine forests similar seagrass meadows to dampen together with adjust to climate modify has led to the evolution of Blue Carbon strategies – the offsetting of carbon emissions past times protection together with expansion of marine forests."

"I promise that their other role equally a protector of archæology together with cultural heritage volition farther boost efforts to save together with protect these underwater meadows. After all, this underwater resources is worth protecting."

Author: Dorte Krause-Jensen | Source: ScienceNordic [October 24, 2018]

This article was originally published on ScienceNordic. Read the master copy here.


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