Experience Counts: Solutions Historical Archaeologists Can Provide in Response to Climate Change

Summary

For well over a century Historical Archaeologists have been faced with the persistent problem of losing archaeological sites to development.  Recently, another challenge has come to the forefront – how these sites are being adversely affected by climate change.   Many of the problems encountered were the result of either increased coastal flooding or flooding in areas where former watercourses have been diverted, altered, or filled to accommodate development.   In the last decade, requests for assistance with the creation of historic site preservation plans, that specifically provide appropriate preparations to prevent impacts related to fluctuating climate conditions, have increased.   As practitioners of a discipline that has always worked to identify threats and establish appropriate mitigation plans, historical archaeologists are in a unique position to work with community planners, government agencies and property owners to provide solutions and insight into the preservation of climate-endangered archaeological and historic resources in the coming decades.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Most Important Contribution Historical Archaeology Can Make to the Situation of Climate Change   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 857