Reconstructing the erosional history of 19th-century earthen fortifications along the coastline of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA

Date
2015
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University of Delaware
Abstract
A lack of time and manpower led to the hurried, sparsely documented construction of a number of locally-sourced earthen fortifications along Chesapeake Bay tributaries shortly before and during the War of 1812 in Maryland. Many of these defenses have been lost to time and development, and those that remain face uncertain futures due to natural and/or human-induced erosion processes. Geoarchaeological investigations were conducted at three Maryland study locations – Fort Nonsense near Annapolis, Fort Point near Centreville, and Fort Stokes near Easton – to better understand their rates and patterns of degradation. Each fort consists of uniquely shaped earthen parapets and adjacent ditches from which construction material was supplied. These study locations were selected because they appear to be relatively intact and are currently threatened by erosion processes. Terrestrial laser scanner surveys were completed at each site to acquire detailed topographic data used to develop high-resolution surface models depicting the current state of the earthworks. Although these data stand alone as valuable documentary resources, they are coupled with stratigraphic, radiometric, and mathematically modeled data to better understand the rates and spatial patterns of degradation. Our results allow us to estimate the original sizes and shapes of these parapet-ditch configurations and to predict their rates and patterns of erosion over time, noting that their degradation remains an ongoing process. Without some form of slope stabilization, the nature of the material from which these earthworks were constructed will allow for their continued widening and flattening.
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