Coastal Adaptations

The coastal environment offers many advantages for hunter-gatherer groups worldwide. True maritime adaption involves a fundamental reliance on coastal resources, though not to the complete exclusion of terrestrial resources. Despite the exploitation of aquatic material (both fresh water and marine) from early on, a full adaption to the use of coastal resources is only recorded archaeologically from the early Holocene. The extent to which the coastal record has been biased by past sea-level change and the lack of visibility of sites now submerged remains open to question. Nevertheless, a number of factors played a significant role as de-glaciation progressed: the availability of ice-free coasts; afforestation and resource development; and the human desire to innovate. These issues are explored in three case study areas: north-west Europe, the Pacific coasts of North America, and Tierra del Fuego in South America.