The Archaeology of Wetlands

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Archaeology of Wetlands" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Covering just over 6% of the Earth’s surface, wetlands contain more than 40% of the Earth’s biodiversity. Because of this, wetlands—the transitional feature between terrestrial and aquatic ecologies—are considered one of the most important ecosystems on the planet. However, due to climate change and human-environmental modifications, wetlands are disappearing. About 50% of the world’s wetlands have already been destroyed, presenting an enormous ecological catastrophe. By showcasing archaeological examples of human-wetland interaction through time and around the world, this session combats the stereotype of wetlands as uninhabitable and unutilized places in the human past. The papers presented here will investigate the ways in which wetlands—from fresh to salty, and from low- to high-altitudes—have been exploited. With these investigations, we stress the need for the protection of, and in some cases, the restoration of these critical ecosystems.