Climate Change and the Rapid Loss of Organic Deposits in West Greenland

Summary

The REMAINS (REsearch and Management of Archaeological sites IN a changing environment and Society) of Greenland project has explored a number of factors that currently threaten Greenland’s archaeological landscape in the coming decades. This paper reviews recent work as well as the problems and threats to coastal and inland middens along the country’s West coast and adjacent inner fjord systems. Information gathered in recent years provides a baseline for "ground-truthing" predictive models of preservation and deterioration of material such as bone, antler, baleen, wood, leather and feathers frequently observed in relative states of decay in the middens. Loss of organic integrity in West Greenland is variable but overall the preliminary data suggests that regardless of age and geographical location, archaeological deposits within the study area are vulnerable. Discussion of these data are situated in the context of the next ten, twenty and fifty years intervals from a heritage management perspective and the possible scenarios we can expect as climate uncertainties continue to eradicate Greenland’s once outstanding archaeological legacy. The underlying theme is that there is a crucial need for greater international attention around the rapid loss of archaeological sites, features and deposits in the circumpolar North.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21756