Coastal erosion ate 30 feet of beach in 8 months near my dig site

I was working on a shell midden project in North Carolina last summer, and we marked a baseline 50 feet from the water. Came back this spring and the shoreline had moved inland by almost 30 feet in that span. A couple of big nor'easters and some king tides just ripped through the dunes. The midden we were looking at is probably half gone now, with bones and pottery fragments just washing out into the surf. Has anyone else seen this kind of rapid change at their coastal sites? What do you do when your excavation area literally disappears before you finish?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan_gibson848d ago

Guess I should be grateful my paint crew only has to worry about brush fires and not losing half a worksite to the ocean. Ever think about just taking up underwater archaeology instead?

jordanc328d agoMost Upvoted

Man that's rough @ryan_gibson84, I get it though. Dealing with brush fires sounds stressful enough without adding erosion or rising tides to the mix. Feels like every trade has its own flavor of chaos you just gotta roll with. Underwater archaeology does sound kinda cool but I bet they have their own headaches too, like silt and bad visibility and all that.

the_karen8d ago

Wait, is this really that bad or just making a big deal out of nothing, @jordanc32?