We Can’t Save Them All: Thoughts on Prioritization

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Accelerating Environmental Change Threats to Cultural Heritage: Serious Challenges, Promising Responses" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological sites are important sources of data on past human behavior and as valuable resources for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. They can also inform attempts to adapt to environmental change in a sustainable way. Equally importantly, they are part of the tangible cultural heritage of descendant communities, and of humanity writ large. Just as new methods increase our ability to access information from these sites, accelerating environmental change poses a dire threat. The scale and urgency of the threat requires new models for funding, education and recruitment of staff, engagement with the public and long-term curation of rescued samples. One critical issue is how to prioritize salvage of sites, since we cannot save them all, or even come close. A variety of approaches will be highlighted, in hopes of fueling subsequent discussion.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Accelerating Environmental Change Threats to Cultural Heritage: Serious Challenges, Promising Responses   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25425