[2] These nooks and crannies provide plenty of places for marine invertebrates to latch on to and for fish to hide in.

Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Georgia have used the site to study invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology as well as the effects of erosion.

[2] Although Gray's Reef is more than 19 miles (17 nmi; 31 km) beyond today's shoreline, and 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, it was once dry land and part of the mainland of North America as recently as 8,000 years ago.

[3] Human occupation of the area dates back at least 13,250 years, and coincides with one of the most dramatic periods of climate change in recent earth history, toward the end of the Ice Ages in the Late Pleistocene epoch.

[4] A 2003 research project undertaken by University of Georgia researchers Ervan G. Garrison, Sherri L. Littman, and Megan Mitchell, reported on Gray's Reef fossils and artifacts, including artifacts from a period of occupation by Clovis culture and Paleoindian hunters dating back more than 10,000 years.