Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The North Atlantic and Circumpolar North have seen unprecedented impacts of rapid climate change on cultural heritage and the archaeological record. Rising sea level, increasing storminess, and rising soil temperatures are rapidly destroying the archaeological record at a frightening rate. Prior SAA sessions have highlighted these threats and a growing number of national and international efforts have been organized in response. A growing realization of the vital importance of active participation by local and traditional knowledge holders and local communities has united archaeologists and host communities in a shared effort to save what we can while we can. This session will present a series of projects and initiatives that are working to respond to climate threats and create better pathways to co-production of knowledge and community participation at all levels. Participants from Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the UK, and Norway will present project results and plans for renewed collaboration. This session is a satellite of the SAA Climate Change Strategies and the Archaeological Record committee.
Other Keywords
arctic •
Cultural Heritage and Preservation •
Zooarchaeology •
Environment and Climate •
Survey •
historical ecology •
Iron Age •
settlement •
Geoarchaeology •
Chronology
Geographic Keywords
Isle of Man (Country) •
Faroe Islands (Country) •
Alberta (State / Territory) •
Yukon Territory (State / Territory) •
British Columbia (State / Territory) •
Alaska (State / Territory) •
Saskatchewan (State / Territory) •
Manitoba (State / Territory) •
Canada (Country) •
Northwest Territories (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)
- Documents (10)
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Climate and Heritage in the Arctic: Environmental Monitoring and a New European Standard (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. To respond to climate change impacts as well as other societal and environmental impacts to archaeological preservation, Norway has been applying environmental monitoring of archaeological deposits and sites since the 1990s. To standardize monitoring methods, tools, and evaluations, a Norwegian Standard was implemented in...
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Community, Co-design, and Climate: Case Studies in Designing Public Outreach for Arctic Archaeology (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological visualization—the task of picturing the past in the present—exists at the intersections of data collection, interpretation, local perspectives, and artfully crafted storytelling. This type of science communication and public engagement work forms a core dimension of archaeology today, particularly for projects...
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Disappearing Past: Seasonal Coastal Settlements in NW Iceland (Ninth–Fifteenth Centuries) (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Throughout the settlement of Iceland there has always been a dependence on marine resources. Furthermore, studies have shown marine resources were being utilized far inland, indicating exchange networks from the start of the settlement period. However, there is a research bias within Icelandic archaeology, which has been...
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Effects of Past and Present Climate Change: Viking Age and Norse Sites in Greenland (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation is one of the products of a series of ongoing interconnected, international, interdisciplinary fieldwork projects coordinated by the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) research cooperative since 2005 in Greenland. The projects drew on more than a century of prior field research, where four...
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The Importance of Specialized Use Sites in the Settlement History of Iceland (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Sandvík, located in the Westfjords of Iceland, seems to have been a seasonally utilized site focused primarily on winter fishing and fish processing. The site is situated directly on the coast, quite near to the main farm of Bær, and dates to very early in the settlement period of Iceland, which began around AD 877. Even...
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No Empty Landscapes: Livelihood, Agency, and Transformation in Early Inuit South Greenland (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Kujataa—South Greenland—constitutes a verdant environmental niche and was one of the most populous regions in Arctic Greenland, occupied by the Norse between ca. AD 985 and 1450 and Inuit in the following centuries until today. Whereas Norse society has been much studied, Inuit archaeology and history in Kujataa has been...
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Prioritization Frameworks and Archaeological Decision-Making in a Changing North (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The impact of climate change on heritage sites is a subject that is discussed with increasing urgency in arctic archaeology. Frequently used metaphors like “burning libraries” or “ticking clocks” capture the visceral feeling of loss experienced by both archaeologists and Inuit communities who witness destructions firsthand....
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The Relentless Tide: Swandro, a Multi-period Settlement Being Lost to the Sea (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Knowe of Swandro, (Orkney Islands, Scotland) was a large settlement occupied from around 800 BCE to CE 1200 and consists of Iron Age roundhouses, Pictish buildings, and a Viking/Norse settlement, much of which has already been lost to the sea. A substantial Iron Age roundhouse that had been occupied for many generations...
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Thule Culture in South Greenland, 1500–1900 (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In collaboration with the NABO RESPONSE and Activating Arctic Heritage teams, Nunatta Katersugaasivia Allagaateqarfialu (Greenland National Museum and Archives) have intensively surveyed the Uunartoq Fjord, Igaliko Fjord, and Tunilliarfik Fjord, inner and outer fjord systems in South Greenland. The goal was to establish...
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Two Valleys Archaeology in an Environmental Humanities Context (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Climate and Heritage in the North Atlantic: Burning Libraries" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This talk discusses the challenges of connecting the currently ongoing Two Valleys Project in Iceland to various scales of research on human ecodynamics of the past and global challenges we face in our time. This interdisciplinary project expands on previous research into human-nature interactions within various marine and...