Drowning the Library: Sea-Level Rise and Archaeological Site Destruction in the Southeastern United States

Summary

The impacts of past and projected climate change and specifically sea level fluctuations on heritage resources are examined across the southeastern US using site and environmental data integrated in DINAA (Digital Index of North American Archaeology). Minor changes in sea level have shaped human settlement from the late Pleistocene onward, including in recent millennia when shorelines are incorrectly assumed to have stabilized at or near present levels. In the near term, tens of thousands of known archaeological sites and historic structures, and countless more currently unknown or undocumented, will be lost given modest (1-5m) changes in sea level. Millions of people will also need to move, which, depending on where they relocate and how potential flooding is to be mitigated, will also lead to the vast destruction of heritage resources. Consideration of large linked datasets is essential to developing procedures for the sampling, triage, and mitigation of predicted losses to our collective heritage. DINAA is one of several emerging solutions to the challenge of working with the vast record about the past that has been generated. Positive, multi-organizational collaboration facilitating open access to linked heritage and environmental data from multiple sources is essential to saving the past for the future.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20466