The survey revealed more than the intriguing remnants of prehistoric settlements.
The remnants of ancient settlements were built by humans but have become features of landscape.
Along the coastline, remnants of Scandinavian settlements and emporia were to be found.
For instance, he said, remnants of a settlement called Squirreltown were found recently in a woods in Freehold.
The first English-speaking lovers of these harsh shores saw, in the remnants of ancient settlement, a druidic civilisation of a grandeur that had since been lost.
But at this place no remnants of human settlement have been found.
They described coconut palms lying over the sea and blocking the routes through the interior of the islands, and overgrown vegetation causing damage to the remnants of the human settlements.
From a social perspective these changes were negative: uncontrolled vegetation had become wild and trees had become overgrown, making it difficult to negotiate one's way around the islands on foot and sometimes making it impossible to find remnants of the former settlements.
Traces of over 400 years of history can be seen in the remnants of the Jamestown settlement and in the new old houses of Colonial Williamsburg.
Remnants of Roman and Frankish settlements of the 1st and 7th centuries have been excavated.
