CULTURAL RESOURCES ON A PLEISTOCENE DUNE IN EAST POINT PENINSULA, NEW JERSEY

East Point, located along the Northeast coast of the Delaware Bay encompasses archaeological resources spanning the late Paleoindian period through 19^th century, and the second oldest lighthouse in New Jersey. These cultural resources are located along a rapidly eroding shoreline and are threatened by sea level rise, coastal erosion and flooding due to storm surge. LiDAR analysis reveals that the pre-colonial occupations are located on a dune system that formed during late Pleistocene/early Holocene, and that much of this ancient landscape has already been buried under salt marsh sediments. GPR profiles revealed several buried shell middens located on the dune that was still occupied up to AD 1716 based on AMS date from oyster shell. We collected sediment cores from transects across the salt marsh and dune system for paleo-landscape reconstruction and have created a 3D model to visualize landscape changes over the last 1,000 years in 100-year increments.