A Mercyhurst College professor hopes to rewrite history.

James Adovasio, Ph.D., will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., later this month to examine and investigate the evidence of human habitation in now-submerged coastal floors.

“During the last major ice age, when glaciers covered large chunks of the country, sea level dropped. Areas that were once exposed are now under water,” he said. “Early humans, as they spread into the New World, would have camped on those coastlines.”

The team of 12, including co-director C. Andrew Hemmings, Ph.D., will examine the waters 100 to 200 miles off Florida’s west coast from July 30 through Aug. 12. It is their hypothesis that an underwater archaeological study will uncover evidence that humans were in North America thousands of years before what is commonly believed.

Such evidence would literally rewrite the history of human habitation of North America — including why, when and where they migrated.

“Everybody agrees that 13,000 years ago, people were all over North America,” said Hemmings, who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.

Archaeologists, knowing how long it took for the water level to rise, can determine how old artifacts are by their location on the coast, he said.

“If we find anything that was on land until 15,000 years ago, then we realize anything we find is at least that old or older,” he said.

Adovasio said it is commonly believed that primitive North Americans were “fur-clad, spear-wielding, terrestrial hunters.”

Instead, he said, the early inhabitants were most likely living off the coastal vegetation, animals and fish.

“They probably relied on a broad diversity of resources,” he said.

The crew will use a 105-foot research vessel, the Suncoaster, from the University of South Florida. Other equipment includes remote-operated underwater vehicles and sonar to examine the ground.

Adovasio hopes the expedition will not only become part of history, but that it promotes Mercyhurst’s role in archeology.

“We probably have one of the best analysis sites for archaeological work in the country,” he said.

No students are traveling with Adovasio or his team, but part of the laboratory analysis of samples and artifacts will take place at Mercyhurst College.

Project costs are estimated around $200,000. Mercyhurst College provided a combination of funds and services to the project, including labor and equipment through the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is supplementing other fundraising efforts by the crew with a $100,000 matching grant.

“The ocean is a pretty big place — 71 percent of the Earth. …We’re trying to close that gap. It’s a huge undertaking,” said Fred Gorell, a spokesman for NOAA.

NOAA is optimistic that Adovasio’s venture will be a success.

“It’s been said that more history resides under the bottom of the ocean than in museums across the globe,” Gorell said. “When some discoveries are found, it helps fill the empty pages of history.”