252 OLDALE, R. N. 1985. "Rapid Postglacial Shoreline Changes in the 

 Western Gulf of Maine and the Paleo-Indian Environment," American Antiquity . 

 Vol 50, No. 1, pp 145-150. 



Rapid shoreline regression and transgression along the western Gulf of 

 Maine between 13,000 and 9000 years B.P. are inferred to have produced a 

 nearshore marine environment low in biologic productivity. Paleo-Indians 

 living near the coast of the Gulf were probably forced to rely on nonmarine 

 resources landward of the late-glacial marine limit. Thus, Paleo-Indian sites 

 of the time period in question may be restricted in the region between the 

 marine limit and the postglacial low sea- level stand, or may be altogether 

 absent. (Author). 



253 OLDALE, R. N. 1985. "Late Quaternary Sea-Level History of New England: 

 A Review of the Published Sea-Level Data," Northeastern Geology . Vol 7, 

 No. 3/4, pp 192-200. 



Sea-level curves are used by archaeologists and geologists to locate 

 paleoshorelines and to reconstruct ancient coastal environments. A review of 

 relative sea- level curves available for the southern New England coast indi- 

 cates that the relative high sea- level events proposed for the intervals of 

 35,000 B.P. and about 12,000 B.P. probably did not occur. Any curve that 

 covers the interval between 12,000 B.P. and 5,000 B.P. is based largely on 

 imprecise data and is only approximately correct. Curves controlled by dates 

 on basal peat from marshes suggest a sea-level rise along the south coast of 

 about 3 m/1,000 years from about 8,000 B.P. up to about 2,500 B.P. and about 

 1 m/1,000 years from then to the present. Sea- level data from the western 

 Gulf of Maine and coastal New England from Boston northward indicate a complex 

 history of late Wisconsinan transgression, early Holocene regression, and mid- 

 dle to late Holocene transgression. The timing and magnitude of the highstand 

 are well established but for the lowstand, they are not. Curves based on 

 dated basal peats for the northern coast indicate a middle to late Holocene 

 rise in relative sea- level that is comparable to the south shore of New En- 

 gland. (Author) . 



254 OLDALE, R. N. and O'HARA, C. J. 1980. "New Radiocarbon Dates From the 

 Inner Continental Shelf Off Southeastern Massachusetts and a Local Sea-Level 

 Rise Curve," Geology , Vol 8, pp 102-106. 



New radiocarbon dates on shells and freshwater peat are used to draw a 

 curve representing local sea- level rise for the past 12,000 year. The samples 

 were collected near the late Wisconsin glacial maximum where the Continental 

 Shelf suffered the least and most rapid isostatic subsidence and rebound to 

 the advance and retreat of the ice. Because the samples are from quiet-water 

 embayments, they most likely have not been reworked or transported. For these 

 reasons, the curve based on these data is believed to accurately represent 

 sea- level rise in southeastern Massachusetts. Previously published radio- 

 carbon dates from elsewhere on the inner shelf tend to reinforce the curve 



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