1 10 5 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/6255004e5893a8cbb3576e84f743f0cc.pdf 1ca69512ee981942c8419ceec0d1b4e6 PDF Text Text Underwater Archaeological Remains in Matano Lake, South of Sulawesi, Indonesia: Evidence of Iron Age Civilization Muslim Dimas Khoiru Dhony1, Shinatria Adhityatama2, R.R. Triwurjani3, Dida Yurnaldi4, Ahmad Surya Ramadhan5, Joko Wahyudiyono6, Aldhi Wahyu Pratama7, Suryatman8, Abdullah Abbas9, Alqiz Lukman10, David Bulbeck11 1Master Student of Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Underwater Archaeologist 2Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, PhD Candidate and Archaeologist 3Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, Pusat Riset Arkeologi Prasejarah dan Sejarah at Organisasi Riset Arkeologi, Bahasa dan Sastra, Senior Researcher 4Pusat Survei Geologi Bandung, Geologist 5Sentra Selam Jogja, Underwater Archaeologist 6Pusat Survei Geologi Bandung, Geologist 7RIJANG Research Institute, Archaeologist 8Universitas Hasanuddin, Lecturer and Archaeologist 9Balai Pelestarian Cagar Budaya Sulawesi Selatan, Underwater Archaeologist 10Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional , Pusat Riset Arkeologi Maritim, Lingkungan dan Budaya Berkelanjutan at Organisasi Riset Arkeologi, Bahasa dan Sastra, Archaeologist 11Department of Archaeology and Natural History at the Australian National University, Visiting Senior Lecturer ABSTRACT Matano Lake is a natural freshwater lake located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia that has a depth of roughly 590 m, making this lake the deepest lake in Southeast Asia. The existence of cultural heritage in land surrounding Matano Lake was revealed in 1998, based on research conducted by OXIS projects, which found a quantity of artifacts dated approximately between the 6th and 16th. From 2016 to 2022 The National Research Centre of Archaeology Indonesia (now the Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional) conducted research in underwater and terrestrial observation relating to submerged landscapes in the Matano Lake environment. This research reveals the civilization of the iron age that has been developed since during much of the second millennium CE regarding mass iron production and iron smelting in Matano Lake. The agency utilized several approaches such as geography and geology as well as the method to collect primary archaeological data in terrestrial excavation and geology survey and also underwater observation using SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) to directly identify archaeological remains on the bottom of the lake. Based on the survey, literature study, and spatial analysis utilizing ArcGIS, there are five sites consisting of Sebengkuro, Pulau Ampat, Pontada, Sukoiyo, and Onetengka with various of human cultural remains such as iron tools , iron slag, pottery, tuyere, wooden poles, ore, charcoal, and fragments of an animal tooth which were laying on the bottom of the lake in 4 to 20 m. The result of the archaeological remains and geological analysis reveals that each site has a different type, contour, and period. Furthermore, based on a literature study, the existence of mass iron production was mentioned in Nagarakrtagama (a Javanese poem in the 14th century) proving iron production in Matano has been exported from Sulawesi Island to Java Island. Keywords: Matano Lake, Underwater Archaeology, Submerged Landscapes, Iron age, Indonesia List of Figures Figure 1. Maps of the distribution of underwater archaeological site in Matano Lake. Figure 2. The divers take archaeological remains for analysis sample. Figure 3. Variations of cultural remains in Pulau Ampat site. Figure 4. Maps of grid baseline and spread of wooden poles in Pontada Site. 1 �INTRODUCTION The topic of this abstract fits best within this Session 18 (The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters) because of the current existence of underwater archaeological sites in Matano Lake that sank due to natural disasters. Underwater archaeological research on the lake has not been conducted in Indonesia before. Matano Lake is located in Malili Region, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia and has a depth of approximately 590 m and 382 m above sea level with an area of 16,408 ha. This became Matano Lake, the eighth deepest lake in the world and the deepest lake in South East Asia (Herder 2006). Based on a geology survey and map, Matano Lake is considered to be 1-4 million years old and lies on the Matano Fault Zone which is still active with tectonic movement of roughly 2 cm per year (Tamuntuan et al. 2010). Previous archaeological research in Matano Lake was conducted in 1998 by the OXIS project which involved Indonesian and foreign researchers. The research revealed that mass iron production and iron smelting was developed on the northern shore during much of the second millennium CE and the western shore of the lake dating from 1500 to 1900 (Bulbeck and Caldwell 2000). From that, the National Research Center for Archaeology (Now Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional) carried out research on the lake in terrestrial and underwater to collect various archaeological data. Beginning in 2016 to 2021, the research demonstrated that there are five underwater archaeological sites with cultural remains. This research attempted to elaborate on the causes of the sunken sites and the age of iron tools discovered underwater. CASE STUDIES The research project explores five underwater archaeological sites which are distributed in Matano Lake namely Sebengkuro, Pulau Ampat, Pontada, Sukoiyo, and Onetengka (Figure 1). Each site has different characteristics and forms of archaeological data which is still in situ within the context. Sebengkuro, Pulau Ampat, and Pontada are located on the southern shore of the lake. However, all these sites have a variety of types and shapes. For instance, in Sebengkuro, underwater archaeologists found cultural material at a depth of about 5 to 7 meters consisting of pottery fragments, clamshells, and a stone beater fragment. In Pulau Ampat and Pontada, the archaeological remains are more complex in a depth of 4 to 8 meters including fragments of pottery, accumulated iron slag, dispersed charcoal, tuyeres from a smelting furnace, iron tools, wooden poles, animal teeth, and bone, as well as stone flakes (Triwurjani et al. 2018-2021). Sites on the north shore of the lake including, Sukoiyo and Onetengka did not reveal as much cultural material as the southern shore sites. However, in these sites, there is evidence of tectonic activity in the past; geologists called the evidence graben (Subsidence areas) (Triwurjani et al. 2019). It is proven that the location of Matano Lake in the main Matano Fault which is still active today makes the environment around the lake become more dynamic. 2 �Figure 1. Maps of the distribution of underwater archaeological site in Matano Lake (Muslim Dimas KD). RESOURCES This research has been carried out from 2016 to 2022. During the research project, team members conducted surveys and excavations in terrestrial and underwater for collecting the archaeological data. After collecting, the team also did database recording and documentation of the samples for further analysis. The archaeological data consist of fragments of pottery, iron tools, animal teeth and bone, charcoal, flakes of stone, tuyeres, and a stone beater fragment which are kept in storage at Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (now Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional). Moreover, for spatial analysis, the team utilized ArcGIS to show the distribution of underwater archaeology sites and the existence of the site in a geology map. In addition, we also studied literature related to mass iron production in Matano in the ancient text of Negarakertagama, a Javanese poem in the 14th century. Within the text it was written that the Majapahit Empire had imported the iron tools from the Matano Lake region (Mulyana 2006; Robson 1995). FRAMEWORK This project exerts underwater archaeology and submerged landscape studies to understand the cause of the sinking of the archaeological site in Matano Lake. Furthermore, this research uses inductive reasoning which in archaeology means taking material culture as the primary evidence (Tanudirjo 1995). Explorative and comparative-descriptive approaches were conducted focusing on primary archaeological data with the context of the remains in terrestrial and underwater environments. The observation was conducted by diving, using SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing 3 �Apparatus) equipment for underwater objects and an underwater camera for documenting archaeological objects and landscapes. The team also recorded and measured using underwater archaeological techniques such as the baseline and quadrant methods (Bowens 2009). Moreover, database recording was also done to achieve complete archaeological data collection of the findings at Matano Lake. The team also employed ArcGIS for spatial analysis, to demonstrate the distribution of archaeological remains and sites in Matano Lake and three dimensional photogrammetry recording and analysis on objects and sites located at the bottom of the lake. RESULTS Description of each site ● Sebengkuro This site is located on the southern shore of the lake. The underwater team conducted surveys in 2019 and 2022 for collecting archaeological remains and observation of the environment on the bottom of the lake with a depth of approximately five to eight meters. From the survey, the team succeeded in finding several kinds of remains such as pottery fragments, clamshells, iron slag, and a stone beater fragment (Figure 2). In addition, regarding the environment, the contour is quite declivous with sand material covered by grass on the bottom of the lake. Figure 2. The divers take archaeological remains for analysis sample (Triwurjani et al. 2019 and 2022). 4 �● Pulau Ampat Pulau Ampat is 2 kilometers to the east of the Sebengkuro site. This site has an area of about 4,6 ha with plenty of archaeological remains on the bottom. Based on observation by the team, the remains consist of fragments of pottery, accumulated iron slag, dispersed charcoal, tuyeres from a smelting furnace, iron tools, animal teeth and bone, and flakes of stone lying in a depth roughly 3 to 10 meters (Figure 3). Thus, the underwater team made a 10 by 10-m baseline and quadrant crossing the concentration of finds and recorded it by taking 3D photogrammetry for analysis (Adhityatama et al. 2022). In this site, it was interesting to observe the stone flakes that are spread on the bottom in context within iron slag and metal artifacts. Based on research analysis, the stone flakes were used by the Matano indigenous iron smelters for strike-a-lights and in particular for the combustion of fuel for iron smelting (Suryatman et al. 2021). Regarding the environment, the material is sand with rock boulders on steep slopes. In order to know the age of the site, the sample of charcoal was sent to the Bandung PSG laboratory for processing by the C14 calendar. The calibrated results show that samples date from between mid-7th and mid-8th centuries (Adhityatama et al. 2022) Figure 3. Variations of cultural remains in Pulau Ampat site (Triwurjani et al 2018). ● Pontada Located about 12 kilometres to the east of the Pulau Ampat site, the 14th century Pontada site has evidence of people and iron production (Adhityatama et al. 2023). Compared to the two sites before, Pontada Site is a more complex related form of material culture in a depth of about 2 to 8 meters with material sand covered by grass. Due to the density of archaeological remains, the underwater team made a grid baseline for recording and taking samples. Based on the observation, the remains were still intact within the context; for instance, a machete was found with fragments of pottery, charcoal, and tuyere. Additionally, there are wooden poles which had not been discovered on the previous investigations (Figure 4). 5 �Figure 4. Maps of grid baseline and spread of wooden poles in Pontada Site (Adhityatama et al 2023). ● Sukoiyo This site is located on the northern shore of the lake. Regarding archaeological data, this site is not as abundant as the sites on the southern shore of the lake. Based on the survey, the team found several pottery fragments exposed on the slopes of the rocks in depths of 15 to 20 meters. ● Onetengka During this research project, this site was visited twice for documenting and taking samples for geology analysis. It is located five kilometres to the west of the Sukoiyo Site. Based on observation, there is no cultural material on this site. However, at a depth roughly from 20 to 30 meters there is evidence of tectonic activity which geologists called graben (Subsidence areas). Geological interpretation According to geologists’ interpretations, Matano Lake was formed due to the pull-apart mechanism, where two opposite segments move apart. Thus, the mechanism will affect the middle to form a basin or graben. Then this graben will fill with water and form a lake (Triwurjani et al. 2018). Lake Matano is estimated to be one to four million years old and is a crypto depression lake, that is, a lake whose bottom is deeper than the seabed nearby (Tamuntuan et al. 2010). Concerning underwater archaeological sites, the availability of sites that sank on the shore of the lake is due to the location being in the Matano fault zone (Tamuntuan et al. 2010). The fault which is active with tectonic movement and is prone to major earthquakes in the past and present. 6 �CONCLUSION The archaeological research project in Matano Lake is significantly important to identify the chronology and development of the iron age civilization in Indonesia. By showing the cultural material as evidence of mass iron production activity and the result of the radiocarbon dating, people in Matano Lake had been conducting iron smelting since the early first millennium. In Addition, the chronology of the Matano Lake formation has a long dynamic process that lies on the Matano Fault Zone. Therefore, the underwater archaeological sites that are located on the shore of the lake were prone to destruction and sinking which is caused by tectonic movement and earthquakes. BIBLIOGRAPHY Adhityatama, Shinatria, Triwurjani, R.R., Suryatman, Priyatno Sulistyarto, Utomo, Bambang Budi.” Underwater Archaeological Study on Prehistoric Material Culture in Matano Lake, South Sulawesi, Indonesia”. Journal of Southeast Asian Archaeology, no 37 (2017): 37–49. Adhityatama, Shinatria, Triwurjani, R.R., Yurnaldi, Dida, Janssen, Renee, Dhony, Muslim Dimas Khoiru, Suryatman, Abbas, Abdullah, Lukman, Alqiz, Bulbeck, David. “ Pulau Ampat site: A submerged 8th century iron production village in Matano Lake, South Sulawesi, Indonesia”. Archaeological Research in Asia, no 29 (2022). Adhityatama, Shinatria, Triwurjani, R.R., Yurnaldi, Dida, Wahyudiono, Joko, Ramadhan, Ahmad Surya, Dhony, Muslim Dimas Khoiru, Suryatman, Abbas, Abdullah, Darfin, Lukman, Alqiz, Pratama, Aldhi Wahyu, Bulbeck, David. “ The Mid-Second Millennium A.D. Submerged Iron Production Village of Pontada in Lake Matano, South Sulawesi, Indonesia” . Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and The Pacific (2023) (Preprint). Bowens, A. (Ed.). Underwater Archaeology: The NAS Guide to Principles and Practice, Second edition. Nautical Archaeology Society, London, 2009. Bulbeck, David, Caldwell, Ian. Land of Iron: The Historical Archaeological of Luwu and the Cenrena Valley. The University of Hull, Centre for South-East Asian Studies, Hull, 2000. Herder, Fabian, et al. “Preliminary checklist of sailfin silversides (Teleostei: Telmatherinidae) in the Malili Lakes of Sulawesi (Indonesia), with a synopsis of systematics and threats”. Band 5 ,139–163, Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft fürIchthyologie, 2006. Mulyana, Slamet. Tafir Sejarah Nagarakrtagama. Yogyakarta: PT. LKiS Pelangi Aksara, 2006. Robson, Stuart. DeśaWarnana (Nāgarakŗtāgama) by Mpu Prapanca. Translation. Leiden: KITLV Press Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1995. Suryatman, Triwurjani, R.R, Adhityatama, Shinatria, Bulbeck, David, Yurnaldi, Dida, Murdihastomo, Ashar, Wahyudiono, Joko, Abdullah, Dhony, Muslim Dimas Khoiru. “Flaking stone activity in the tradition of iron smelting from the 8th to 17th centuries AD in the Matano region, South Sulawesi, Indonesia”. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, no 36 (2021). Tamuntuan, Gerald, Bijaksana, Satrioa, Gaffar, Eddy, Russell, James, Safiuddin, La Ode, Huliselan, Estevanus Kristian. “The magnetic properties of Indonesian lake sediment: a case study of a tectonic lake in South Sulawesi and Maar Lakes in East Java”. ITB J. Sci, no 42 (1) (2010): 31–48. Tanudirjo, Daud. Theoretical trends in Indonesian archaeology. In: Ucko, P.J. (Ed.), Theory in Archaeology:A World Perspective, 61-75. Routledge, London, 1995. Triwurjani, R.R, Shinatria Adhityatama, Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto, Suryatman, Dida Yurnaldi, Hendra, Abdullah Abbas, Muslim Dimas Khoiru Dhony. Mengungkap Peradaban Danau Matano, Sorowako, Masa Paleometalik Hingga Masa Sejarah, Di Kabupaten Luwu, Sulawesi Selatan. Laporan Penelitian Arkeologi, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, 2018. Triwurjani, R.R, Shinatria Adhityatama, Sukmandaru Prihatmoko, Trinirmalaningrum, Suryatman, Abdullah Abbas, Joko Wahyudiono, Ashar Murdihastomo, Muslim Dimas K.D, Joko Dermawan. Mengungkap Peradaban Zaman Besi dan Mitigasi Bencana Gempa di Danau Matano, Sulawesi Selatan Melalui Kajian Arkeologi. Laporan Penelitian Arkeologi, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, .2019. 7 �Triwurjani, R.R, Shinatria Adhityatama, Alqiz Lukman, Suryatman, Dida Yurnaldi, Muslim Dimas Khoiru Dhony, Indah Permatasarie Tjan.. Mengungkap Peradaban Besi di Kawasan Danau Matano, Sulawesi Selatan. Laporan Penelitian Arkeologi, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, 2020. Triwurjani, R.R, Shinatria Adhityatama, Dida Yurnaldi, Joko Wahyudiono, Suryatman, Abdullah Abbas, Ahmad Surya Ramadhan, Joko Wahyudiono, Alqiz Lukaman, Muslim Dimas K.D, Indah Permatasarie Tjan, Aldhi Wahyu Pratama, Putra Hudlinas Muhammad. Mengungkap Peradaban Zaman Besi dan Mitigasi Bencana Gempa di Danau Matano, Sulawesi Selatan Melalui Kajian Arkeologi. Laporan Penelitian Arkeologi, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional, 2021. 8 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2023 Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Subject The topic of the resource Session 15 papers Description An account of the resource Papers presented at Session 15 of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2023 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Language A language of the resource English Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Underwater Archaeological Remains in Matano Lake, South of Sulawesi, Indonesia: Evidence of Iron Age Civilization Description An account of the resource Matano Lake is a natural freshwater lake located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia that has a depth of roughly 590 m, making this lake the deepest lake in Southeast Asia. The existence of cultural heritage in land surrounding Matano Lake was revealed in 1998, based on research conducted by OXIS projects, which found a quantity of artifacts dated approximately between the 6th and 16th. From 2016 to 2022 The National Research Centre of Archaeology Indonesia (now the Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional) conducted research in underwater and terrestrial observation relating to submerged landscapes in the Matano Lake environment. This research reveals the civilization of the iron age that has been developed since during much of the second millennium CE regarding mass iron production and iron smelting in Matano Lake. The agency utilized several approaches such as geography and geology as well as the method to collect primary archaeological data in terrestrial excavation and geology survey and also underwater observation using SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) to directly identify archaeological remains on the bottom of the lake. Based on the survey, literature study, and spatial analysis utilizing ArcGIS, there are five sites consisting of Sebengkuro, Pulau Ampat, Pontada, Sukoiyo, and Onetengka with various of human cultural remains such as iron tools , iron slag, pottery, tuyere, wooden poles, ore, charcoal, and fragments of an animal tooth which were laying on the bottom of the lake in 4 to 20 m. The result of the archaeological remains and geological analysis reveals that each site has a different type, contour, and period. Furthermore, based on a literature study, the existence of mass iron production was mentioned in Nagarakrtagama (a Javanese poem in the 14th century) proving iron production in Matano has been exported from Sulawesi Island to Java Island. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Muslim Dimas Khoiru Dhony Shinatria Adhityatama R.R. Triwurjani Dida Yurnaldi Ahmad Surya Ramadhan Joko Wahyudiyono Aldhi Wahyu Pratama Suryatman Abdullah Abbas Alqiz Lukman David Bulbeck Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Language A language of the resource English Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Dhony, Muslim Dimas Khoiru, Shinatria Adhityatama, R.R. Triwurjani, Dida Yurnaldi, Ahmad Surya Ramadhan, Joko Wahyudiyono, Aldhi Wahyu Pratama, Suryatman, Abdullah Abbas, Alqiz Lukman, and David Bulbeck. 2023. ‘‘Underwater Archaeological Remains in Matano Lake, South of Sulawesi, Indonesia: Evidence of Iron Age Civilization.’’ Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Jennifer McKinnon. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1995 Asia-Pac Session 15 2023 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/c3ef358232376f6bacefe915e670a91d.pdf 64b4f9c08837516700ea70c958d00d92 PDF Text Text Searching for the evidence of disaster from the sunken village of Lake Hibara, Japan Randy Sasaki (Associate Professor, Teikyo University Research Institute of Cultural Properties) Wataru Tanikawa (Senior Researcher, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) Jun Kimura (Associate Professor, Tokai University) Hisashi Nakagawa (Curator, Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History) Shintaro Yamasaki (Associate Professor, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University) Yuhji Yamamoto (Professor, Kochi University) ABSTRACT In 1888, the eruption of Mount Bandai in the Fukushima prefecture of northern Japan created a dammed lake, resulting in the submergence of the entire village of Hibara. A multi-disciplinary research team has been organized to extract both archaeological and historical information as well as environmental information. The focus of the research is not only on the material culture, but also on topics such as the process of submergence and how people's lives were affected. The study of the submerged village of Hibara is a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of natural disasters on human settlements. To locate the periphery of the site, the team is using remote sensing technology including Side Scan Sonar, Sub-bottom Profiler, and underwater drones. Additionally, soil coring is being used to study the event sequence and the environment, and archaeological techniques are being used to record the material culture. This is one of the first studies of its kind conducted in Japan, and the team aims to develop methodologies for investigating submerged sites. Ultimately, this research will contribute to the study of local history and enhance our understanding of cultural heritage. List of Abbreviations SSS Side Scan Sonar JpGU Japan Geoscience Union Keywords: Japan, Fukushima, Submerged Landscape, Natural Disaster INTRODUCTION This article discusses the scientific potential of studying disaster sites located on an inland lake. So-called disaster archaeology at submerged archaeological sites is not a well-known topic of research in Japan. In 2022, to promote the study of underwater disaster archaeology at inland lakes, researchers from various fields came together to conduct an archaeological expedition. This paper focuses on a research project led by Senior Researcher Wataru Tanikawa, being conducted at the submerged site of Hibara Village in Fukushima Prefecture. The village was submerged by the formation of a dammed lake following the 1888 eruption of Mt. Bandai (Central Disaster Management Council 2005, 1). The site records the tangible heritage of village life, the mechanisms of a disaster, and how people reacted to the disaster. The project is a joint effort by archaeologists and natural scientists to extract records of disasters by investigating historical records, archaeological remains, as well as acquired data from remote sensing technologies and soil science technologies. The importance of understanding past disaster sites is apparent because such studies not only provide an understanding of our past but also contribute to today’s policy-making in better disaster prevention. Disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, change the landscape drastically and the lives of people. The study of submerged landscapes and the material culture left behind underwater due to a disaster can provide insight into our past interaction with the environment. Research in this sub-field has been challenging because of the small number of investigated sites, the lack of uniting themes, and how to glean information through available scientific methodologies. The team hopes to create momentum for further research on disaster archaeology at submerged sites by providing possible themes and research methods to be followed. This paper discusses the history of Hibara Village, how the research came about, results from the 2022 season, and as a conclusion, a plan for future research. The preliminary results of the 2023 fieldwork will be discussed in the presentation. 1 �HISTORY OF HIBARA VILLAGE Hibara village is strategically located along an East-West path in a mountainous region of northern Japan. The major development came during the Edo period (1603-1867 CE) when the village was designated as a post town or Shukuba-Machi, on the Aizu-Yonezawa Highway. The village has little farmland, but it flourished as an “inn” for merchants and travelers. However, in the Meiji era (1868-1912 CE), when the highway system was abolished, the town declined in its importance. Despite losing its function as a station, the village was a well-known spot along the highway for rest (Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education 2018, 1-2). On 15 July 1888, the sudden eruption of Mt. Bandai changed the course of the village forever. This was the first major disaster that received international attention in the Meiji period. A part of the mountain collapsed and the avalanche buried several villages, killing close to 500 people (Sato 2021, 49-50). Hibara village first appeared to have been saved from the devastation, as the debris from the collapsed mountain did not reach the village. However, the debris from the mountain dammed the existing streams creating lakes. The water level began to rise slowly, and after several months, the government ordered the villagers to evacuate and the village was relocated to a higher ground. The newly formed Hibara Lake eventually swallowed the entire village (Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education 2022, 36). The location of the village was not forgotten. The focal point for the villagers then and now is the shrine, located at the ridge of a hill, above the current water-level. The passageway, or the approach to the shrine, is marked by rows of trees. After the submergence, these trees were cut down, leaving the tree stumps behind partially submerged. These stumps can be seen today along the two Torii gates, leading up toward the shrine. One Torii gate is standing close to the current shoreline and another Torii is in the lake. The water level of the lake is controlled, and seasonal fluctuation is high due to the heavy snowfall in the area. Usually, the water-level is kept low during winter. During summer seasons, one of the Torii is completely below water, but when the water level is low, one can walk beyond this Torii on dry land. The submerged section of the village has been designated as a known site by the local municipality (Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education 2022, 35). In 2000, Hosei University carried out a preliminary diving survey around the village and found several ceramic fragments. Hosei University organized further research in 2002, and they recorded some features, including rock foundations and raised ground. The work was done by the university's Explorer Club and not by trained archaeologists (Tanikawa 2021). The video and the drawings they made, however, provided clues about what to look for during research. In addition to these underwater expeditions, the Kita-shiobara village conducted an in-depth walking survey during a historic low tide in 2016; they found gravestones and other stone-built structures, as well as some artifacts including ceramics and iron objects (Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education, 2022). HOW THE RESEARCH CAME ABOUT For years, Tanikawa had a vague idea of studying past disasters and their impacts on human society by combining natural and social sciences. Between 2015-2019, Tanikawa investigated "Kuroda-gori," a village in Kochi Prefecture that is believed to have been submerged by the Hakuho Earthquake of 684 (Tanikawa et al. 2016, 17-18). Based on historical documents and sedimentation history, several areas in Kochi Prefecture were surveyed, finding underwater remains, such as blocks of stones and stone pillars (Tanikawa et al. 2019). However, it was not possible to identify direct links between the features, sedimentology data, and written records. Tanikawa realized the need for collaborative research, especially from the archaeological community. Randall Sasaki, hearing the story of Tanikawa’s research, offered help. To discuss the possible collaboration of research, a session titled `Natural hazard and human activity recorded in underwater geoarchaeological structure` was organized at the Japan Geoscience Union and American Geophysical Union joint meeting held at 2 �Makuhari, Japan (JpGU Session H-QR05, 2020). At this session, the need to investigate a known submerged site as joint research was proposed, and Hibara village was selected as a case study. The research team, mainly from three different fields, was formed. Besides the archaeological team, one team focuses on remote sensing surveys to gather an overall image of the site, and another team conducts scientific analysis including the soil profile. The Lake Hibara underwater site is a suitable location for research for several reasons. Written records of the disaster are available and the reason for the submergence is known. The location of the site is certain and the local municipality is eager to support the project. Figure 1. A Historic Map (Azaippitsukagirichizuchou, Hibara-Mura) of Hibara Village, displayed at the Local Museum (Photographed by the research team) In 2021, the team gathered at Hibara Lake for a preliminary investigation; a sonar survey, snorkel survey, and underwater monitoring by a drone were conducted. The sonar survey revealed rows of tree stumps along the approach and showed some strong reflections. The snorkel survey identified rows of trees and some building blocks. The underwater drone survey revealed stone structures, and possible locations of a temple by the presence of gravestones. The main source for identifying the general plan of the village is the land allocation map (Azaippitsukagirichizuchou, Hibara-Mura) from the early Meiji period (Aizu -Yonezawa Kaido Main Road, Hibara Historical Museum). It depicts streets, canals, housing blocks, and important buildings including a shrine, a temple, and administrative buildings (Figure 1). The results from the 2021 season appeared to correspond well with the allocation map. A meeting with the local municipal office was held, sharing the results and discussing the research plan. Based on the results, the team was able to draw a research plan. The team applied for a research grant and was approved, starting a four-year project in 2022 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) Clarification of underwater ruins of Lake Hibara and the volcanic disaster that caused the submergence of the lake). THE 2022 SEASON This was the first main season of the research and was focused on gleaning information from various methods to see the overall picture of the site and fine-tune the research plan for the coming seasons. The team conducted various remote sensing surveys and diving investigations. Soil samples and wood samples were also collected for analysis. 3 �Remote Sensing Survey The success of underwater archaeology is all about knowing where to look, and this study is to know the general distribution or the plan of the village. The above-mentioned allocation map is an important source; the map contains information on the length/size of the village blocks. Remote sensing was planned to orient and adjust the map to be used for archaeological surveys (Figure 2). Figure 2 A Photo of the Lake, the Torii Gate, and the Team Conducting a Survey (Photographed by the research team). Sonar surveys were conducted on several occasions using Side Scan Sonar (SSS) (Imagenex Model 872 YellowFin: 800 kHz). The images showed reflections from the submerged Torii, rows of trees, stone walls and foundations, intersecting roads, and some other unknown features. Approximately an area of 0.2㎢ was surveyed, and a mosaic image was generated. The SSS image appears to correspond well with the land allocation map, showing some of the building blocks with sharp corners. A general land formation and small streams can be vaguely seen but require a visual inspection to identify (Figure 3). A Sub-bottom Profiler survey (SyQwest Bathy 2010-PC: 3.5 kHz) was conducted to investigate the features buried below the lake sediment. The survey focused on the proposed village area; transact lines were made from both north-south and east-west directions. The result showed that the site was covered by about 20-30 cm thick soft lacustrine sediment. The land slopes downwards towards west-northwest directions and appears to show a greater change in elevation at the edge of the village, which is also seen in the SSS data. All water sources run from west to east, following the natural land formation. The irrigation channel made at the village followed this natural drainage direction. 4 �Figure 3 A Side Scan Sonar Mosaic Image overlayed; Showing the Outlines of the Village in Reflections (image provided by the research team) A magnetometer survey (OH Marine Magnetics SeaSpy2) was also conducted. Around the supposed village, 12 magnetic anomalies were found, mainly concentrated in the northern part of the survey area. These anomalies could potentially be associated with iron artifacts discarded by villagers when leaving. Archaeological Investigation The underwater investigation was conducted to see if the SSS data corresponded with the map and the accuracy of the map. If the team can “learn” how underwater features appear, it may be able to reconstruct the village by looking at the SSS data, and also be able to pinpoint the location to dive. Silt accumulation is the main problem for an archaeological diving survey. The visibility becomes close to zero, if divers are not careful to disturb the bottom surface. The datum was set at the submerged Torii, and a 100 m line was established extending out from the approach. Since this survey was a preliminary expedition, this is a temporary datum and a fixed datum point will be established in the following season. The submerged Torii is about 71 m offshore. The resident informed the team that these Torii gates were constructed about 40 or 50 years ago, close to the original locations. Stacked Stone Wall The diving survey revealed the remains of a two-story stacked stone structure with an L-shaped plan, located 120 meters offshore (about 50 m from the datum). This is thought to be the junction of the approach and the main highway. The structure was composed of rectangular stones measuring roughly 70 cm x 30 cm. The feature is partially buried, especially showing heavy accumulation towards the west. The wall was at least two stones high, 18 stones lined north-south (along the approach), and at least five stones east-west (along the main highway). This wall can be seen clearly on the SSS image. Rock Accumulation A wide area of gravel accumulation was discovered approximately 15 meters from the datum. The exact extension is unknown, and the size and the shapes are irregular. Several stones were cut to make into shapes, and a circular hole was drilled in at least one of the stones, which is broken in half. It is 5 �considered to be the foundation of the Torii. The feature appears as cloudy reflections in the SSS image. Earthen Embankment An elongated earthen embankment was discovered parallel to the east of the approach road, extending approximately 25 m in length. The embankment was made primarily of sand mixed with gravel. The embankment measures four meters wide and has a low rise of two meters. To the north of this feature is an area with scattered rocks and the remains of building foundations. Based on the land allocation map, a temple was located at the northern end of the embankment. The embankment may be an access road to the temple. The feature is shown as a mix of spotted strong and weak reflections in the SSS image. Landform The SSS image shows an abrupt change in color at several locations, and these correspond well with the elevation change. A slanted S-shaped change in landform seen in the image can also be seen in the land allocation map. The abrupt change in the elevation was confirmed during the diving survey as well. The houses, or village blocks were built along this ridge. The main highway runs along the lower edge of this ridge. Some houses, a shrine, and a temple were built on the upper ridge and the rest of the town below. Core Samples Wood Species analysis The core samples were taken at four locations, two samples each (Samples A and B), counting eight cores in total. Samples A were subjected to destructive analysis while Samples B were only used for non-destructive analysis. The baseline for collecting samples was set along the approach to the shrine, establishing the zero point at the submerged Torii. The core sample was collected at 30m (Core I), 52m (Core II), 70m (Core III), and 100 m (Core IV) from the zero point. Core samples were collected by divers pounding polycarbonate pipes directly into the lake bottom. Samples up to 35 cm in length/depth were collected. Nondestructive observations of internal structure in lake sediments were made using X-ray computed tomography. Density and magnetic susceptibility measurements were made using a nondestructive multi-sensor core logger, density and porosity measurements were made using the nitrogen gas displacement method, grain size analysis using laser diffraction, and mineral identification using powder X-ray diffraction. All cores had fine-grain sediments in the shallow/top layer (Layer I) and mixed sediment with some angular gravel in deeper layers (Layer II). Layer I had a lower bulk density, magnetic susceptibility, percentage of grains larger than 1 mm in diameter, and dispersion of grain size distribution. In terms of bulk density, a clear physical property gap was observed between the layers. Layer I showed a larger proportion of diatoms and volcanic glass and a smaller proportion of quartz than Layer II. In addition, no illite or chlorite, both of which are andesitic origin, was found in Layer II. The results indicate that Layer I is a soil layer deposited after the formation of Hibara Lake. To our surprise, pottery fragments were found in Core IV. These pottery sherds had engraved stripes on the interior, suggesting that it is a fragment of mortar for grinding, which is a typical artifact found in a site dating to the Early Modern period or later. Core IV showed higher porosity, indicating heavy land use. Perhaps, this area was used as farmland or trash pits existed nearby. Core III, which is located near the intersection of the approach and the main highway, showed compacted soil. Rows of trees along the approach create the key scenes of the site. To identify the species and to date the tree, core samples were drilled into several trees. The species were identified as cedar. The trees date to around the mid-19th century from the radiocarbon dating. The date confirms that the growth of trees stopped soon after submerging. 6 �CONCLUSIONS AND 2023 SEASON PLAN Interdisciplinary investigation of the Lake Hibara underwater site is a challenging and complex endeavor, but the first season shows promising results. The research team hopes to obtain a comprehensive understanding of natural disaster mechanisms as well as the people’s interaction with the event. With the data and knowledge gathered in the first season, the research team is well-positioned to find out more about the complex dynamics of the underwater site, and the wider implications of natural disasters. During the 2023 season, small-scale excavations both on land and underwater are being planned. This may provide an insight to the changes in material culture before and after the village was relocated. The detailed season plan has not been finalized at this point of writing, but the season's preliminary results will be introduced at the conference.    Acknowledgements We acknowledge the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research for funding our project. We are deeply grateful for numerous individuals and groups whose contributions were essential to their success. Particularly, appreciation should be given to the residents and municipal officers for their hospitality and invaluable support, which greatly facilitated our research. BIBLIOGRAPHY Aizu -Yonezawa Kaido Main Road, Hibara Historical Museum “Azaippitsukagirichizuchou, Hibara-Mura” A photo-copy of Historical Map 字一筆限地図帳　第四大区七小区　岩代國耶麻郡 檜原村, Author not recorded, Date Unknown, (Photographed by the research team) Central Disaster Management Council. 1888 Mt.Bandai Eruption Report, Tokyo:Central Disaster Management Council, 2005. Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education. Kita-Shiobara Village Excavation Report, No. 5, Fukushima: Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education, 2022. Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education. Historic Road, Aizu-Yonezawa Highway - Hibara History Trail, Fukushima: Kita-Shiobara Village Board of Education, 2018. Sato, Hiroshi. “Eruption of Mount Bandai in 1888 and Recovery from Disaster.” Water Science 65, no. 3 (2021): 45-69. Tanikawa, Wataru. Collaborative Research and Meeting of Natural Hazard Science and Archaeology for Submerged Ruins. Disaster Prevention Research Institute Kyoto University, Kyoto: Kyoto University, 2021. Tanikawa, Wataru., Go-ichiro Uramoto, Yohei Hamada, Masafumi Murayama, Yuhji Yamamoto, Takehiro Hirose, Osamu Tadai, Kouki Tanaka, Hiromasa Ozaki, Minoru Yoneda, and Hidekazu Tokuyama. “Provenance of submerged stone pillars in an earthquake and typhoon hazard zone, coastal Tosashimizu, southwest Japan: A multidisciplinary geological approach.” Marine Geology 415 (2019) 105962. Tanikawa, Wataru., Go-Ichiro Uramoto, Hidekazu Tokuyama, Masafumi Murayama, and Yuhji Yamamoto. “A Review on Estimation of Subsidence Records of Nankai Earthquakes from the Tradition of the Submerged Village Kuroda-gori.” Rekishi Jishin 31 (2016):17-26. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2023 Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Subject The topic of the resource Session 15 papers Description An account of the resource Papers presented at Session 15 of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2023 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Language A language of the resource English Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Searching for the evidence of disaster from the sunken village of Lake Hibara, Japan Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Randy Sasaki Wataru Tanikawa Jun Kimura Hisashi Nakagawa Shintaro Yamasaki Yuhji Yamamoto Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Language A language of the resource English Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Sasaki, Randy, Wataru Tanikawa, Jun Kimura, Hisashi Nakagawa, Shintaro Yamasaki, Yuhji Yamamoto. 2023. “Searching for the evidence of disaster from the sunken village of Lake Hibara, Japan.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Jennifer McKinnon. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1994 Asia-Pac Session 15 2023 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/f3aad38b7722f3ead8359debc883f444.pdf 08fba8438cd399df3769458227b1c591 PDF Text Text Excavation, conservation, and preservation of the Mt Gambier underwater fossil deposits Julien Louys (Associate Professor, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane Australia) ABSTRACT This paper will examine the history of underwater fossil research in the Mt Gambier region, Australia, focusing on ongoing efforts to study, conserve, and protect underwater resources found in the freshwater sinkholes and limestone caves of the region; as such, the topic of this abstract fits best within the session The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters because it is concerned with cave sites that have become flooded. I will describe the considerable past efforts that were undertaken to extract fossils from Green Waterhole, as well as recently successful efforts to have this site registered as a South Australian Heritage Listed site, ensuring legislated protection for the cave and its deposits into the future. In addition, a new research program funded by the Australian Research Council and in collaboration with the Cave Divers Association of Australia and the South Australian Museum will be presented. The new work includes efforts to successfully recover fossils with as much contextual information as possible, especially geochronological and environmental data. Using these data, we expect to determine the geological age of the extinct megafauna recovered from the sites and the environments they inhabited; data critical for determining the degree to which humans or environmental change contributed to their demise. We will also evaluate the impact of such research on the preservation of the caves, ongoing efforts to conserve the geoheritage potential of the sites, and means of educating the public on the unique underwater resources they represent. Keywords: megafauna, Pleistocene, geoheritage, South Australia LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ARC – Australian Research Council CDAA – Cave Divers Association of Australia ka – thousand years INTRODUCTION The topic of this paper fits best within the Session Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters because the underwater caves of the Mt Gambier region are freshwater deposits in a young, terrestrial karstic landscape (Figure 1). The Mt Gambier caves are found in the latest Eocene to Miocene limestones of the Gambier Limestone within the Gambier Basin, although rarer younger caves are also formed in the Quaternary dune calcarenites (Grimes et al. 1999; Webb et al. 2010). The limestones are relatively soft and weakly consolidated, and both limestones and calcarenites show synergetic karst features such as development of solution pipes and calcreted caprocks (Grimes et al. 1999). Collapse dolines are frequently recorded in the Mt Gambier region, and those that fall below the waterline form cenotes. These are up to 125 m deep, and generally circular, sheer-walled, and floored by large rubble cones (Webb et al. 2010). Cave and cenote dissolution is thought to be the result of volcanogenic CO2 acidified groundwater resulting from Pleistocene–Holocene volcanic eruptions, in particular the 28 ka Mt Gambier eruption (Webb et al. 2010). The phreatic caverns formed by this dissolution collapsed possibly during the low sea levels of the Last Glacial Maximum (Webb et al. 2010), forming sites such as Hells Hole, Umpherstons, The Sisters, Little Blue Lake, One Tree, and Gouldens; The Shaft is a rare example of cave dissolution with a solution pipe entrance that has not yet collapsed (Grimes et al. 1999). Flooding of the cenotes is thought to have occurred approximately 8 ka based on radiocarbon dates associated with a stromatolite from Black Hole (Kelly 1998). There does not appear to be any hydrological or speleological connection between the cenotes and the phreatic caves of the region (Webb et al. 2010). 1 �Figure 1. Location of some of the major cave diving locations in the Mt Gambier region. Adapted after Lewis and Stace 1982. The phreatic caves of the Mt Gambier region are shallow, horizontal, joint and bedding-plane controlled systems (Grimes et al. 1999; Webb et al. 2010). Passages are primarily epiphreatic, fissure-style, and solution features associated with previous water table levels such as incuts and undercuts are frequently observed (Grimes et al. 1999; Webb et al. 2010). The bulk of the cave systems are underwater, and some have been heavily modified by breakdown, forming collapse domes and rubble filled passages (Grimes et al. 1999). These sometimes reach the surface, such as Green Waterhole (Fossil Cave). There are over 50 caves recorded around Mt Gambier (Webb et al. 2010), many of which have been mapped and/or discovered by the CDAA; the most extensive cave system in the region is Tank Cave with over 10 km of passages, one of which was recently (2018) connected to Green Waterhole. Fossils from the underwater caves in Mt Gambier were first reported to palaeontologists in the 1960s. The following history is recounted from Pledge (1980) and Horne (1988). In 1964 G. McKenzie passed some possum and sthenurine (extinct short-faced kangaroos) fossils he found from Green Waterhole to amateur palaeontologist and caver F.W. Aslin, who subsequently passed them on to B. 2 �Daily at the South Australian Museum. In 1965 Daily collected kangaroo and pig remains from near the entrance to the cave that probably represent more modern specimens. In 1968 divers B. Brawley and G. McKenzie recovered substantial sthenurine material including crania in ‘excellent condition’. A second extraction occurred later that same year, with a third expedition in 1969 yielding considerable postcranial material. Fossil material had also been recovered at some point from the Pines Cave, but this material was only discovered in the Australian Museum in 1968, and it is not clear in Pledge (1980) or Horne (1988)’s accounts when or by whom this was collected. The fossil collecting exploits of some divers, however, was sensationalised in the 15 February 1969 issue of Pix magazine. In 1974 a further extraction took place from Green Waterhole after reports of ‘unauthorised’ divers in this cave who were planning on returning; presumably these divers were interfering with the fossil deposits. Further dives in 1978 by cave divers from Flinders University recovered more bones, which were passed on to R. Wells, palaeontologist at Flinders. This resulted in the first systematic efforts to recover bones from Green Waterhole, as described by Horne (1988). At the end of 1978 a grid system was laid out across the southern exposures of fossils, and much material was again collected, this time however with more specific locality information preserved. In 1987 and 1988, through the South Australian Underwater Speleological Society (SAUSS) and Flinders University, further collection of fossil material in reference to the grid system was made. The results of these collections are described in Horne (1988) and Newton (1988). Fossils representing extinct and extant Quaternary vertebrate faunas have also been reported from numerous other cenotes and caves from the Mt Gambier region (Figure 1); however, unlike those from Green Waterhole (Fossil Cave), none have been subject to systematic or extensive excavations. Underwater sites yielding fossils include Ewen’s Ponds, Ten-Eighty Sinkhole, Goulden’s Hole, Tank Cave, Engelbrecht Cave, Blue Lake, Kilsby’s Sinkhole (Reed and Bourne 2000). Nevertheless, there has been little published in the scientific literature concerning the underwater fossils of Mt Gambier. Pledge (1980) provided descriptions of the initial finds from Green Waterhole, and the birds from the site were published by Baird (1985). Baird (1991) also discussed some aspects of the taphonomy of the site. Reed and Bourne (2000) summarised what was then known about the fossil taxa found in the Mt Gambier caves. Green Waterhole was listed as one of the most important Australian fossil sites in Australia’s Fossil Heritage (The Australian Heritage Council 2012). In late 2018, further megafauna fossils were discovered in pristine condition in the Bone Room chamber of Tank Cave (Green 2018). This represented one of the most significant finds of this kind in Mt Gambier since the excavations of Green Waterhole in the 1980s. Unfortunately, these finds coincided with reports of unauthorised fossil extractions in Green Waterhole. The history and potential of the fossil deposits in the Mt Gambier region, the dearth of published scientific studies, and the recent finds and incidences have highlighted the need to (1) conduct further scientific study of the underwater fossil deposits; and (2) ensure adequate protection and conservation of the cave systems and the fossils therein. CASE STUDIES The case studies under consideration are the following: (1) An Australian Research Council Linkage Project between Griffith University, CDAA, South Australian Museum, the University of Adelaide, and the University of Queensland, aimed at undertaking new scientific analyses and excavations of the fossil underwater deposits of the Mt Gambier Region. (2) The South Australian Fossil Heritage Working Group and their efforts to add Green Waterhole and Tank Cave fossil deposits to the state heritage list. 3 �RESOURCES The resources available to conduct the work include funding from the ARC, the CDAA, Griffith University, as well as the expertise and time from these organisations and those from University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, Flinders University, South Australian Museum, South Australia Department for Environment and Water (DEW). Griffith University and partners were awarded $268,529 in March 2022 by the ARC for a project entitled Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves. FRAMEWORK ARC Linkage Project Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves The following summarises the goals of this project (from Australian Research Council, 2019): This project aims to investigate the unique submerged Mt Gambier fossil deposits to determine the role environmental change had on large Australian mammal extinctions. By using a combination of technical diving and scientific expertise to study untouched fossil deposits from underwater caves, this project expects to provide greater understanding of past ecosystems and animals, advancements in geochronological techniques, and data critical to prepare Australians for action in protecting our biological heritage. Expected outcomes include insights into cave conservation and protection of underwater cave systems, updated policies on cave management, and promotion of our understanding of Australian geo-heritage through education and displays. This project consists of a partnership between Griffith University, CDAA, South Australian Museum, the University of Adelaide, and the University of Queensland to undertake new studies on the underwater fossil deposits of the Mt Gambier region, with results feeding back directly to the CDAA, the South Australian Museum, and other interested parties for education and conservation purposes, in addition to the scientific contributions. The focus of this project is on four caves and cenotes: Gouldens, Engelbrect’s East, Green Waterhole, and Tank Cave. It will combine new excavations as well as novel (for the region and underwater setting) sampling, namely geochronological (uranium-series, optically stimulated luminescence, electron spin resonance dating) and palynological, alongside underwater palaeontological sampling and analyses. To prepare for this project, a thorough review of current underwater palaeontological techniques was published (Louys 2018), and pilot data were collected. Since the award of ARC funding, the project has grown to include photogrammetry analyses in collaboration with the CDAA and Flinders University. The production of 3D models of the underwater systems will not only be of enormous benefit to the taphonomic and speleological analyses planned, but can also be fed directly into current cave conservation efforts, such those of the Project Baseline team monitoring Tank Cave (https://projectbaseline.org/), and displays and educational resources for the South Australian Museum. The project has also embraced new methodologies, such as environmental DNA studies, with recent efforts successful in securing additional funding for these analyses. The South Australian Fossil Heritage Working Group This group was set up in recognition of the need to establish a collaborative group of palaeontologists, conservationists, speleologists, and government members to further the protection of natural sites with significant fossil deposits in South Australia. South Australia has a strong and proud tradition of fossil conservation at the world and state level, exemplified by the World Heritage Listing of the Naracoorte cave system (alongside Riversleigh, as the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites; Bourne and Reed 2009), as well as State Heritage nominations of individual caves and multi-site areas in the Naracoorte Caves 4 �National Park (Lewis 2019). Although the heritage importance of Green Waterhole had been recognised for some years (Australian Heritage Council 2012; Lewis 2019), the initiation of a new research program through the ARC Linkage Project and the new finds made in Tank Cave in 2018 provided the impetus for the formation of the group and the nomination of Green Waterhole – Tank Cave complex for State Heritage Listing. Members of the working group included representatives from Griffith University, CDAA, University of Adelaide, the South Australian Museum, Flinders University, and the South Australia Department for Environment and Water (see Acknowledgements for individuals involved). The South Australian State Heritage Register is a list of areas protected under the Heritage Places Act 1993 from alteration, damage, or removal without formal prior consultation and permission (South Australian State Heritage, https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/heritage/sa-heritage-register). State Heritage listing provides legal protection to fossil sites that would otherwise not be provided even if such sites are designated Geological Heritage Sites by the Geological Society of Australia (Lewis 2019). Current federal or state laws in Australia do not provide adequate or consistent protection for fossils (Percival 2014). Significant education and awareness training for cave divers has been in place for decades (e.g., Louys 2019), however, recognition of the State Heritage Register of the importance of the caves will, it is hoped, add impetus and focus on their preservation. Like the nomination of the Naracoorte Caves National Parks to the State Heritage Register linked to the Natural (as opposed to Built) environment, the nomination of the Green Waterhole – Tank Cave Complex was orientated towards Geological, Archaeological, Palaeontological and Speleological heritage (GAPS heritage; Lewis 2019), and was a multi-site nomination. Specifically, it focused on the palaeontological, speleological, and geological significance of the caves and their deposits, as follows (South Australian Heritage Register 2022): The Green Waterhole - Tank Cave Fossil Complex contains the only known extensive underwater vertebrate fossil deposits in Australia. This unique freshwater depositional environment has ensured the preservation of extinct species not found anywhere else, with several additional species new to science recovered and awaiting description. The underwater deposits have also resulted in a completeness and preservation of fossil assemblies almost unique for Australia. This provides an important opportunity to investigate the evolution of South Australian mammals and birds. The impacts of this type of site on the age and nature of the fossil remains have yet to be fully studied. The complex represents unusual geological formations including the occurrence of a shallow fresh waterhole not usually found in sinkholes in the South East, and evidence of rare volcanogenic influences in the formation of the cave system. The cave complex also demonstrates rare speleological features, including length of cave passageways, clarity of water, underwater speleothems, and being a type locality for stygofauna. The complex also holds importance for the development of cave diving in the country and is closely associated with the Cave Divers Association of Australia. It is also acknowledged as a place of significance for the Boandik people. The nomination was assessed under the following criteria under Section 16 of the Heritage Places Act 1993: (b) it has rare, uncommon or endangered qualities that are of cultural significance; (c) it may yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the State’s history, including its natural history; and (g) it has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance. These criteria recognise both the palaeontological (and associated geological and speleological) features of the caves, but also the history and connection with Indigenous groups as well as more recently, the cave divers. RESULTS The first field season from the project Deep time extinctions and environments in Australian underwater caves took place over 10 days in early April 2023. The season had three primary 5 �objectives. First, collect surface samples and associated geochronological samples from the megafaunal deposits in Engelbrecht’s East deposits. These are unique for the project in that they represent a fissure fill deposit actively eroding out in a dry section of the cave. It is included in this project because it requires diving through an underwater passage to access, but more importantly is actively eroding into a wet section of the cave. This provides significant contextual data for the taphonomic aspects of the project seeking to determine whether skeletal elements were deposited in wet settings pre or post fossilisation. Second, three sample cores, one optically stimulated luminescence, one pollen, and one eDNA, were collected from each of the three sites of interest, Gouldens, Green Waterhole, and Engelbrecht’s East from the underwater passage mentioned above; previous pilot data had suggested that sediments in this section could be as old as 95 ka (Arnold, pers comm., 2021). To preserve stratigraphic integrity within these cores, as well as any viable DNA, all cores collected during this season were frozen in the orientation in which they were taken. Sampling was made considerably more difficult in Green Waterhole and, to a lesser extent, Gouldens, due to the amount of fine particulates on the cave floor. Once disturbed, these sediments became suspended in the water column and reduced visibility to almost nothing, and most of the sampling and exit from the cave was done via tactile signalling. Figure 2: The author examining a cow femur, Green Waterhole, Mt Gambier (image courtesy of Steve Trewavas). Third, surface reference material, much of recent age (specifically, less than about 200 years old as represented by European domesticates) was collected from Gouldens and Green Waterhole (Figure 2). These were collected to provide modern baselines for faunal dating and taphonomic analyses. Species recovered thus far include sheep, cow, and murids. In addition to these objectives, the photogrammetry surveys were begun in all three caves. These will require numerous dives and trips to complete. With regards to the protection of the sites, the Green Waterhole - Tank Cave Fossil Complex was officially confirmed as a State Heritage Place in the SA Heritage Register on 23 June 2022. The South 6 �Australian Fossil Heritage Working Group continues their work listing other fossils sites on the registry; however, to date none of any additional sites relate to underwater fossil deposits. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Cave Divers Association of Australia have been integral to this project and their immense contribution is acknowledged here. In particular, many thanks Peter Wolf who was instrumental in setting up the Linkage Project, and Joseph Monks who has since been intimately involved with the planning and execution of the project and fieldwork. The CDAA National Directors are thanked for their ongoing support. Dive field support was graciously provided by Joseph Monks, Damian Bishop, Ellyse Klein, Hiro Yoshida, Tim Featonby, Steve Trewavas, and Kelvin Ball, with surface support provided by Meg Walker, Gilbert Price, and Jody Kreuger. Scientific support was provided by Lee Arnold, Martina Demuro, and Liz Reed. The members of the South Australian Fossil Heritage Working Group involved in the listing of Green Waterhole – Tank Cave complex (Julien Louys, Peter Wolf, Peter Horne, Liz Reed, Diego Garcia-Bellido, Mary-Anne Binnie, Neville Pledge, Trevor Worthy, Rod Wells, Gavin Prideaux, Ian D. Lewis, Steve Bourne, and Anna Pope) are warmly thanked for their tremendous efforts in having the site entered in the State Heritage Register. Funding for this project is provided by ARC Linkage LP210200704 and The Australia Pacific Science Hermon Slade Research Fund HSF23047. BIBLIOGRAPHY Australian Heritage Council. Australia's Fossil Heritage: A Catalogue of Important Australian Fossil Sites. Canberra: CSIRO Publishing, 2012. Australian Research Council, 2019. LP210200704 — Griffith University (funded by Australian Research Council). https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/Web/Grants/LP210200704, accessed 28/4/2023. Baird, R.F. “Avian fossils from Quaternary deposits in ‘Green Waterhole Cave’, south-eastern South Australia.” Records of the Australian Museum 37, no. 6 (1985): 353-370. Baird, R.F. “Taphonomy of late Quaternary cave localities yielding vertebrate remains in Australia.” In Vertebrate Palaeontology of Australasia, edited by Patricia Vickers-Rich, J.M. Monaghan, R.F. Baird and T.H. Rich, 267–309. Melbourne: Pioneer Design Studio and the Monash University Publications Committee, 1991. Bourne, Steve, Reed, Liz. “Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte).” World Heritage 52 (2009): 46-47. Green, Selina. 2018. “Cave diver finds prehistoric bones in 'new room' of underwater cave network.” ABC News 13th December 2018. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-13/cavediver-finds-large-fauna-bones-south-australia/10599218 Grimes, Ken, G., Mott, K. and White, S. “The Gambier karst province.” Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Conference on Cave and Karst Management (1999): 1-7. Kelly, M.D. Freshwater Stromatolites as Potential Environmental Indicators: A Case Study from Lower Southeast South Australia. B.Sc. Hons thesis, Department of Geography, University of Newcastle, 1998. Lewis, Ian, D. “South Australian geology and the State Heritage Register: an example of geoconservation of the Naracoorte Caves complex and karst environment.” Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 66, no. 6 (2019): 785-792. Lewis, Ian, Stace, Peter. Cave Diving in Australia, Revised Edition. Adelaide: Ian Lewis and Peter Stace, 1982. Louys, Julien. “Practice and prospects in underwater palaeontology.” Palaeontologia Electronica 21, no. 2 (2018): 1-14. Louys, Julien. “A cave diver’s guide to fossil discoveries – our obligations.” Guidelines 148 (2019): 12-15. Percival, I.G. “Protection and preservation of Australia’s palaeontological heritage.” Geoheritage 6, no. 3 (2014): 205-216. Pledge, Neville S. “Macropodid skeletons, including: Simosthenurus Tedford, from an unusual “drowned cave” deposit in the south east of South Australia.” Records of the South Australian Museum 18 (1980): 131-141. South Australian Heritage Register. Department for Environment and Water, Government of South Australia, 2022. https://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/HeritageItem.aspx?p_heritageno=28119 Reed, Elizabeth H. and Bourne, Steven J. “Pleistocene fossil vertebrate sites of the South East region of South Australia.” Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 124 (2000): 61-90. Webb, J.A., Grimes, K.G. and Lewis, I.D. “Volcanogenic origin of cenotes near Mt Gambier, southeastern Australia.” Geomorphology 119, nos. 1-2 (2010): 23-35. 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2023 Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Subject The topic of the resource Session 15 papers Description An account of the resource Papers presented at Session 15 of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2023 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Language A language of the resource English Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Excavation, conservation, and preservation of the Mt Gambier underwater fossil deposits Description An account of the resource This paper will examine the history of underwater fossil research in the Mt Gambier region, Australia, focusing on ongoing efforts to study, conserve, and protect underwater resources found in the freshwater sinkholes and limestone caves of the region; as such, the topic of this abstract fits best within the session The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters because it is concerned with cave sites that have become flooded. I will describe the considerable past efforts that were undertaken to extract fossils from Green Waterhole, as well as recently successful efforts to have this site registered as a South Australian Heritage Listed site, ensuring legislated protection for the cave and its deposits into the future. In addition, a new research program funded by the Australian Research Council and in collaboration with the Cave Divers Association of Australia and the South Australian Museum will be presented. The new work includes efforts to successfully recover fossils with as much contextual information as possible, especially geochronological and environmental data. Using these data, we expect to determine the geological age of the extinct megafauna recovered from the sites and the environments they inhabited; data critical for determining the degree to which humans or environmental change contributed to their demise. We will also evaluate the impact of such research on the preservation of the caves, ongoing efforts to conserve the geoheritage potential of the sites, and means of educating the public on the unique underwater resources they represent. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Julien Louys Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Language A language of the resource English Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Louys, Julien . 2023. “Excavation, conservation, and preservation of the Mt Gambier underwater fossil deposits.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Jennifer McKinnon. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1993 Asia-Pac Session 15 2023 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/b65cbf0cbec872baa0ddbb28f16f76e6.pdf 1b17632f5b816ae268b5ec79c4e15964 PDF Text Text Lessons from the Inland Seas: A Submerged Landscape Study in the Great Lakes Dr. Ashley Lemke (Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Associate Professor) ABSTRACT The topic of this abstract fits best within Session15 because it is a case study of 9,000-year-old archaeological sites on a submerged landscape under a lake. The case studies under consideration are the following 1) conducting prehistoric archaeology 30 meters below water, 2) studying a submerged landscape in an inland setting, in this case, a large freshwater lake, and 3) novel data preserved underwater in the Great Lakes challenges our previous ideas about hunter-gatherer societies. The resources available to conduct the work include funding from the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (both based in the United States) and methods include sonar surveys, remote operated vehicle investigations, photogrammetry, scuba diving, environmental sampling, and virtual reality computer modeling. The research questions/approach/problems are 1) how can we conduct anthropologically relevant underwater archaeology, 2) how do you investigate sites 30 meters below water, and 3) what can submerged data tell us about prehistoric peoples? The [expected] results are stone tools and debitage, stone constructed hunting features, and ancient peat deposits.   Keywords: Submerged landscapes, North America, Great Lakes, Deep-water archaeology List of Figures Figure 1. Lake Huron and the Alpena-Amberley Ridge Figure 2. Two obsidian flakes recovered from a submerged landscape below Lake Huron, Great Lakes, United States Figure 3. Sampling an exposed peat layer on a submerged landscape below Lake Huron, Great Lakes, United States. INTRODUCTION The topic of this article fits best within Session 15, The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters because it is a case study of Early Holocene (9,500-8,900 cal. yr. BP) archaeological sites on a submerged landscape under an inland lake. Over the past 200,000 years the earth experienced several phases of glacial and interglacial climates and associated changes in global water level. During these periods, when large amounts of water were frozen, sea-level lowered by as much as 130 meters (Joy 2021). These global processes of sea level change, including glaciation, isostatic rebound, and fluctuating water levels are mirrored on a local level in the North American Great Lakes. The North American Great Lakes is a region in the midcontinent of North America with five fresh bodies of water. Amongst the largest lakes in the world, the Great Lakes are often referred to as the “inland seas” given their size, depth, ecological habitats, and significant weather and waves. Today these lakes greatly impact communities in the region in terms of commerce, travel, subsistence, climate, and recreation. The same was true for these lakes in the past, where they have influenced, and been influenced by, the human communities on and around them for thousands of years. The Great Lakes have been a region of study for nautical archaeologists for many decades, given the unique and varied vessels to sail across them and their long-standing role in transportation, trade, and conflict (e.g. Lardinois 2021). In addition to the rich maritime history of the area, the cold, fresh waters of the Great Lakes provide some of the best preservation habitats for archaeological remains, particularly wooden and metal ships given the lack of salt (and its corrosive properties), absence of ship worms (Teredinidae), and cold-water temperature. Indeed, the large numbers of shipwrecks and their immaculate state of preservation has resulted in two National Marine Sanctuaries in the Great Lakes, one in Lake Michigan, the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and one in Lake Huron, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 1 �Within the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Lake Huron, this project seeks to move beyond shipwrecks and further back in time, to explore submerged landscapes in the Great Lakes, using Lake Huron as a test case. At the end of the last ice age, during the Lake Stanley time period, water levels in Lake Huron were 100 meters lower than modern sea level and exposed more than 250,000 hectares of previous lake bottom. These lower water levels created a long, narrow dryland feature called the Alpena-Amberley Ridge (AAR) that runs across the modern Lake Huron basin, splitting it in two (Figure 1). The AAR is ~145 kilometers long and between 12-16 kilometers wide, it now rests in an average of 25-30 meters of water. Between 9,500-8,900 cal. yr. BP this causeway was a dryland environment that connected mainland Michigan and Ontario on either side of the lake and served as a migratory pathway for caribou herds in the area which in turn attracted human hunter-gatherers. Figure 1. Lake Huron and the Alpena-Amberley Ridge. Interdisciplinary research since 2008, including paleoenvironmental studies and computer science applications, but focusing on archaeology, has documented 9,000-year-old hunting sites for targeting caribou (Lemke 2022; O’Shea and Meadows 2009; O’Shea et al. 2014). Organic remains and stone artifacts have been collected including two lithic flakes fashioned out of an exotic obsidian from over 4,000 kilometers away (O’Shea et al. 2021 Figure 2). 2 �Figure 2. Two obsidian flakes (specimen numbers 105-1 and 105-2) recovered from a submerged landscape below Lake Huron, Great Lakes, United States (O’Shea et al. 2021). CASE STUDIES While one project, the case studies under consideration are the following: 1) conducting prehistoric1 archaeology 30 meters below water, 2) studying a submerged landscape in an inland setting, in this case, a large freshwater lake, and 3) novel data preserved underwater in the Great Lakes challenges our previous ideas about hunter-gatherer societies in the region. While submerged landscapes studies are now common across the globe (Bailey et al. 2020; Benjamin et al. 2011; Evans et al. 2014), it is still a small group of archaeologists working in prehistoric time periods within the larger field of underwater archaeology. As such, projects across the globe have targeted different regions, various time periods, diverse research questions, generated novel data, and have utilized unique methods while creating new research designs. While many approaches from nautical archaeology 1 A note about the use of “prehistoric” here. While many archaeologists are using pre-contact to refer to ancient sites in the Americas, the author prefers the use of prehistoric, arguing that “pre-contact” obscures diversity and artificially creates a homogenous “pre-contact” North America that did not exist (akin to the use of “pre-colonial Africa” see Táíwò 2023) 3 �can be adapted to older sites, submerged landscapes also present their own unique challenges, and project teams have often invented new techniques combined with standard methods to approach these archaeological records. For the Lake Huron project specifically, a new approach was applied that worked in iterative, mutli-scalar levels, developed out of necessity for working in very old contexts in deep, fresh water, far offshore (55-80 kilometers). Conducting prehistoric archaeology in water depths of 30 meters required a multi-scalar approach to submerged landscapes, to first understand the underlying landforms and their associated paleoenvironments to then make predictions about where hunting and gathering sites would be located. Therefore, the first research conducted was large-scale mapping of the central portion of the AAR using multibeam and side-scan sonars. The AAR was broken into 4 research areas, targeting unique geological aspects of the landform. Area 1 (56 kilometers squared) focused on high ground outcrops that may have included local chert/flint deposits, Area 2 (49 kilometers squared) has some of the deepest water on the AAR, thus representing evidence from the earliest stages of Lake Stanley (those areas that would have been exposed first after water levels lowered), Area 3 is a narrow section of the AAR with a pronounced slope (17 kilometers squared) and Area 4 is an large, flat area that likely would have had the best grazing/browse for migrating herds (165 kilometers squared). The central portion of the AAR was targeted for investigation because archaeological deposits offshore are less likely to be deeply buried by modern sediment and are less likely to be significantly impacted by coastline waves and weather (e.g. ice thrusts, erosion, etc.). Once these large areas were mapped, investigations focused on targets of interest on the sonar surveys, and research focused on these smaller areas. Fortunately, the archaeological record on the AAR investigated thus far consists of stone-constructed hunting features, some of which are large enough to see on large-scale sonar surveys given their high reflectivity. These sites are similar to hunting architecture sites known from the terrestrial record (Lemke 2022) and are stone lines, rings, v-shapes, funnel-shapes, and other constructions used to attract and channel wild prey into predictable hunting areas. Many of the sites under Lake Huron have rocks with diameters of 1 meter and some rock line constructions are 30 meters long and thus are visible on side-scan surveys (O’Shea and Meadows 2008) and were chosen for more in-depth research. Once an area on the AAR is known to have a prehistoric structure, finer scale survey is conducted with scanning sonar, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) with side-scan sonar, and a remote operated vehicle (ROV) resulting in micro-regional investigations of 150-hectare areas (O’Shea 2021). Given the depth and temperature of the water, large-scale scuba surveys are not possible given limitations on bottom time, and these remote sensing methods coupled with the live video of the ROV have proven very successful at finding archaeological sites and conducting preliminary mapping and video surveys of features. Once sites are fully photo-documented using the ROV and mapped using the scanning sonar and/or AUV, they are then sampled for cultural materials by scuba divers. Sampling on the AAR has taken a varied approach depending on the context. In general, archaeological sites and materials are shallowly buried (less than 10 centimeters of sediment overlay archaeological deposits). At large sites, preliminary sampling was conducted in a fashion similar to shovel testing in the United States where a small area, 30 centimeters squared, was hand excavated and screened and cultural material was collected every three meters. Once cultural material was recovered, further excavation was completed in one by one-meter square units. Locations of all samples are collected via the ROV which is equipped with a tracking sonar with real time geospatial coordinates. Other sampling methods include 100 mL plastic vials which are primarily used for collecting sediment for paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological analyses, including pollen, testate amoebae, grain size, etc. These samples occasionally also collected cultural materials, such as the two obsidian flakes (O’Shea et al. 2014). To date, numerous stone constructed sites have been documented and sampled on the AAR using the above methods. These include Drop 45, a long liner drive lane site that has associated hunting blinds and 4 �stone artifacts (O’Shea et al. 2014), the Gap Locality, an area of hunting blinds and other constructed features that yielded the obsidian artifacts (O’Shea et al. 2021), and the Dragon Drive lane, a site with a long, liner drive lane feature and a hunting blind (O’Shea and Meadows 2009). In addition to the cultural material, paleoenvironmental data characterized this submerged landscape as a peri-glacial sub-arctic like environment with spruce and tamarack trees, freshwater lakes, bogs, and marshes. Most recently, a preserved peat bog was discovered. Radiocarbon dates from this peat layer ranged from 9678-9296 cal. yr. BP (Figure 3). Samples of the peat have been submitted for environmental DNA analyses which aim to further illuminate the flora and fauna present on this early Holocene now submerged landscape. Figure 3. Sampling an exposed peat layer on a submerged landscape below Lake Huron, Great Lakes, United States. Photograph by John O’Shea, used with permission. In general, the archaeological record on the AAR can be characterized as evidence of a modified, cultural landscape, where groups of foraging societies encountered caribou on their semi-annual migrations and used targeted hunting techniques in both the fall and spring using built structures. Hunting architecture sites increase the yield and predictability of wild animal resources and provide meeting areas on the landscape for people to come together for cooperative hunts while also likely trading goods, socializing, sharing foods, exchanging information, conducting rituals, etc. Significantly, the archaeological evidence preserved on this inundated landform is notably different from terrestrial archaeological sites in the region. Historically the standard model of occupation for the area began with the Paleoindian time period (~13,000-10,000 cal. yr. BP) as the earliest occupants, characterized as highly mobile, big-game hunters, using distinctive fluted point projectiles, changing to lanceolate points during the later stages. Such technology is unique in the Americas and has been well-studied; although, regionally archaeological sites with this technology are not well dated due to 5 �acidic soils and largely ephemeral deposits (Lothrop et al. 2016). The following Archaic period is characterized by notched and stemmed points in the Great Lakes, with the Hi-Lo variety often assumed to be transitional between these and the earlier fluted points. To date, no large bifaces have been recovered from submerged sites on the AAR. While the two obsidian flakes are likely the byproduct of bifacial manufacture/maintenance (O’Shea et al. 2021), other lithics from the AAR are more indicative of a microtool tradition, unknown from the terrestrial record in the region. The AAR archaeology therefore offers a unique window in diverse lifeways that characterize the late Pleistocene/early Holocene, a time period of immense environmental change, mosaicked flora and fauna, and likely small regional refugia such as the AAR (see Lemke and O’Shea 2019). RESOURCES The resources available to conduct the work include funding from the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (both based in the United States) and methods include sonar surveys, remote operated vehicle investigations, photogrammetry, scuba diving, environmental sampling, and virtual reality computer modeling. FRAMEWORK The research questions/approach/problems are 1) how can we conduct anthropologically relevant underwater archaeology, 2) how do you investigate sites 30 meters below water, and 3) what can submerged data tell us about prehistoric peoples? First, submerged landscapes represent a fundamentally different problem than sunken wrecks (boats, ships, or airplanes), rather than a time capsule of a historical event, submerged landscapes are often palimpsests of longer periods more akin to most terrestrial archaeological sites (Lemke and O’Shea 2022). As such, they can be investigated like terrestrial archaeological sites, admittedly with some unique methods, such as those developed for the deep-water archaeology conducted on the AAR. The investigation of submerged landscapes also requires geoarchaeological, paleoenvironmental, and paleolimnological data to understand when sites were submerged, how long environments were habitable, and what type of climates and resources they provided to past peoples. Ultimately it is critical to investigate these landscapes from an anthropological archaeology perspective (Lemke 2021). The Great Lakes case study presented here also offers ideas for research designs in deep-water, offshore contexts, but it is important to stress that while theoretically submerged landscapes share many commonalities with each other and their terrestrial counterparts, siteand regional-level modeling must be done on a case-by-case basis. For example, most sea-level curves are not appropriate for wide-scale use, and water levels need to be reconstructed for specific areas keeping in mind their unique geomorphology. Additionally, methods that work well for one submerged site will not work at others, for example, an airlift that was designed to excavate ancient, submerged sites in Florida karstic sinkholes and rivers was used in Lake Huron and froze given the dramatic differences in water temperature. Lastly, it is important to note that data from submerged landscapes date to some of the most critical time periods in the human past, and rather than providing redundant data, they often preserve unique evidence about the past to better elucidate the lifeways of prehistoric peoples. RESULTS The [expected] results from this research are stone tools and debitage, stone constructed hunting features, and environmental DNA from ancient peat deposits. Taken together, this case study from the inland seas presents unique methodologies for conducting deep-water archaeology, a long-term regional study of a submerged landscape, and novel results that indicate a unique early Holocene environment, significant 6 �modification of the landscape best characterized as niche construction by hunter-gatherers, and a mosaic of foraging lifeways in the ancient Americas. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research presented in this article is the result of interdisciplinary collaborative work with project founder and co-director John O’Shea, and research partners including Tyler Schultz, Elisabeth Sonnenburg, Brendan Nash, Daneille Riebe, Jeffery Ferguson, Alex Nyers, Robert Reynolds, Thomas Palazzolo, Chencheng Zhang, Sarah Saad, Matthew Boyd, and Cailen O’Shea. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bailey, Geoff, Galanidou, Nena, Peeters, Hans, Jons, Hauke, and Mortiz Mennenga (,eds.). The Archaeology of Europe’s Drowned Landscapes. Verlag: Springer, 2020. Benjamin, Jonathan, Bonsall, Clive, Pickard, Catriona, Pickard, and Anders Fischer (,eds.). Submerged Prehistory. Oxford ; Oakville: Oxbow Books, 2011. Evans, Amanda, Joe Flatman, and Nic Flemming (,eds.). Prehistoric Archaeology on the Continental Shelf. Verlag: Springer, 2019. Joy, Shawn. “Coastally-adapted: A developing model for coastal Paleoindian sites on the North American eastern continental shelf.” Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 16, no.1 (2021): 150-169. Lardinois, Anna. Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies and Legacies from the Inland Seas. Essex: Globe Pequot, 2021. Lemke, Ashley. “Submerged Prehistory and Anthropological Archaeology: Do underwater studies contribute to theory?” Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 16, no. 1 (2021): 5-26. Lemke, Ashley. The Architecture of Hunting: The Built Environment of Hunter-Gatherers and its Impact on Mobility, Property, Leadership, and Labor. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2021. Lemke, A. K., and J. M. O’Shea. “The End of an Era? Early Holocene Paleoindian Caribou Hunting in a Great Lakes Glacial Refugium.” In People and Culture in Ice Age Americas: New Dimensions in Paleoamerican Archaeology, edited by R. Suárez and C. F. Ardelean, 156-171. Salt Lake City: Utah University Press, 2019. Lemke, A. and J. O’Shea. “Drowning the Pompeii Premise: Frozen Moments, Single Events, and the Character of Submerged Archaeological Sites.” World Archaeology 54, no. 1 (2021): 142-156. Lothrop, Jonathan C., Lowery, Darrin L., Spiess, Arthur E., and Christophere J. Ellis. “Early Human Settlement of Northeastern North America.” Paleoamerica 2, no. 3 (2016): 192-251. O’Shea, John M. “Micro-regional Approaches for Submerged Site Archaeology.” Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 16,1 (2021): 103-117. O’Shea, J. M., Lemke, A. K., Sonnenburg, E., Reynolds, R.G., and B. Abbott. “A 9,000- year-old Caribou Hunting Structure beneath Lake Huron.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 19 (2014): 6911-6915. O’Shea, J. M., Lemke, A. K., Nash, B. S., Sonnenburg, E. P., Ferguson, J. R., Nyers, A. J., and D. J. Riebe. “Central Oregon Obsidian from a Submerged early Holocene Archaeological Site beneath Lake Huron.” PLOS ONE 16, no. 5 (2021): e0250840. O’Shea, John M. and Guy A. Meadows. “Evidence for Early Hunters beneath the Great Lakes.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 25 (2009): 10120-10123. Táíwò, Olufemi, “It never existed: The idea of a ‘precolonial’ Africa is theoretically vacuous, racist, and plain wrong about the continent’s actual history.” Aeoni (2023) https://aeon.co/essays/the-idea-of-precolonial-africa-is-vacuous-and-wrong?utm_source=rss-feed 7 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2023 Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Subject The topic of the resource Session 15 papers Description An account of the resource Papers presented at Session 15 of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2023 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Language A language of the resource English Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lessons from the Inland Seas: A Submerged Landscape Study in the Great Lakes Description An account of the resource The topic of this abstract fits best within Session15 because it is a case study of 9,000-year-old archaeological sites on a submerged landscape under a lake. The case studies under consideration are the following 1) conducting prehistoric archaeology 30 meters below water, 2) studying a submerged landscape in an inland setting, in this case, a large freshwater lake, and 3) novel data preserved underwater in the Great Lakes challenges our previous ideas about hunter-gatherer societies. The resources available to conduct the work include funding from the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (both based in the United States) and methods include sonar surveys, remote operated vehicle investigations, photogrammetry, scuba diving, environmental sampling, and virtual reality computer modeling. The research questions/approach/problems are 1) how can we conduct anthropologically relevant underwater archaeology, 2) how do you investigate sites 30 meters below water, and 3) what can submerged data tell us about prehistoric peoples? The [expected] results are stone tools and debitage, stone constructed hunting features, and ancient peat deposits. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ashley Lemke Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Language A language of the resource English Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Lemke, Ashley . 2023. “Lessons from the Inland Seas: A Submerged Landscape Study in the Great Lakes.” Edited by Jennifer Craig, Jay Mok, T. Kurt Knoerl, and Jennifer McKinnon. In Proceedings of Fifth Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage: Gwangju, The Republic of Korea, November 13-18 2023. The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. URL: https://apconf.omeka.net/exhibits/show/apconfproceedings/item/1992 Asia-Pac Session 15 2023 https://apconf-much.org/proceedings/files/original/17291874e7ef263dbc64101b93659651.mp4 cf349fe3df869eaeabcd2eb606730b42 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2023 Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Subject The topic of the resource Session 15 papers Description An account of the resource Papers presented at Session 15 of the 2023 Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2023 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Language A language of the resource English Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Asia Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage Moving Image A series of visual representations that, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Shinatria Adhityatama - Chair of Session 15: The Archaeology of Submerged Landscapes and Inland Waters Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shinatria Adhityatama Michelle Damian Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Museum of Underwater Archaeology Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023 Language A language of the resource English Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Asia-Pac Session 15 2023