It looks like Ballard will be doing a multi-year search in the Gulf:
Scientists Seek Indian History Underwater[North America]
The Day ^ | Joe Wojtas
Mashantuckets, Ballard To Explore Ancient Coastline
They are questions that have intrigued scientists, archaeologists and historians for centuries: When did Native Americans first arrive on the North American continent, and where did they settle?
Now, Robert Ballard, president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium, and Kevin McBride, research director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, and other researchers hope to answer that question.
On Wednesday, Ballard, McBride and Dwight Coleman, the IFE's research director, outlined plans for a multiyear expedition to chart the location of ancient coastlines now underwater, identify sites of Native American settlements and find artifacts to prove they were there and date their arrival.
“The most important questions about early American habitation can only be addressed underwater,” said McBride, adding that the underwater vehicles and exploration technology developed by Ballard are finally making such research possible.
The work can only be done underwater because 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, ice covered much of North America. In Connecticut, it stretched all the way to the coast. Water levels were much lower, and the coastline of what is now Connecticut was 100 miles south of where it is today. In between was land that was flooded when the ice melted, and ocean levels began to rise.
Native Americans are known to have lived on high ground near rivers along the ocean because of access to a variety of food. Ballard and his team will look for those geographic features, which are now underwater. One clue will be huge piles of discarded clamshells and other items that formed ancient garbage dumps. The researchers hope tools, arrowheads and other items will be found nearby.
McBride said the original theory was that people arrived in North America from Asia by walking across the Bering Strait 12,000 to 13,000 years ago. He said recent finds show the real story is more complex and older than that.
“And the story probably involves coastal areas that are now underwater,” he said.
The team's work is scheduled to begin in March in the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary, located 100 miles south of the Texas-Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. There they hope to find evidence of Native American habitation near underwater salt domes, which they theorize the Indians may have used to preserve food. Ballard said he dreams of finding actual ancient salt mines.
The team will use two underwater vehicles developed by Ballard along with the Navy's NR-1 nuclear research submarine and its support ship, the Carolyn Chouest, both based at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton
“There's a lot of potential here, but our goal is modest at first. If we find a single tool from the Flower Gardens, we'll be really happy,” McBride said.
In 2008, the work will shift to an area around Block Island, which was a mountain in ancient times and where Ballard and McBride have done previous studies, and then progress to other areas off the East Coast.
All of the expeditions will be broadcast live via satellite and Internet 2 technology from the research vessels not only to the aquarium, but to colleges, 20 museums and 60 Boys' and Girls' Clubs across the country. Ballard hopes that these upcoming expeditions as well as others he has broadcast in recent years capture the imagination of students and interest them in becoming the nation's next generation of scientists and engineers.
“We're not just going to reach local kids but tens of thousands of them across the country,” he said.
Among Ballard's other partners in the expedition are the University of Connecticut, which is providing its research vessel, the Connecticut, docked at the Avery Point campus, and the University of Rhode Island, which is providing a research vessel and building a new ocean exploration center to monitor the expeditions. Ballard has also established the country's first graduate program in archaeological oceanography there.
Ballard said it was two of his students at URI, one of whom is Corey Gillette of Old Lyme, who spurred him to put together the expedition because of their interest in early Native American habitation.
This expedition is the culmination of an idea Ballard had when he decided in 1994 to relocate his headquarters to the aquarium. Ballard said then that he envisioned a time when technology would allow him to not only broadcast his expeditions live but let him go on them from the comfort of his living room.
Ballard and McBride will monitor and direct the March expedition from a command center at the aquarium.
“It's going to be interesting. This will be the first time in 40 years that I haven't actually been on the ship. Bring the beer and pizza over, and we'll watch together,” he joked earlier this week.
Ballard and McBride will talk with Coleman as video images are beamed back to the surface from the submarine and remote vehicles 24 hours a day, and also will talk to students watching the work at other locations
Once the group proves its method of locating settlements, Ballard said it can be used around the world to find evidence of early human habitation.
For the 64-year-old Ballard, who has located the sunken wrecks of the Titanic, PT-109 and ancient Phoenician ships, this expedition is another chance to expand his legacy.
“I'm not sure what it's going to be, but we're going to find something,” he said.