Anthropogenic Environmental Change and Cultural Resources Management: Documenting Landscapes of Environmental Damage

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Much attention has been paid in recent years to the impacts of climate change on cultural resources, including the documentation of effects and the protection or documentation of resources before they are destroyed. However, several centuries of large-scale landscape modifications in North America – particularly those caused by the conversion of land to commercial agricultural production – have produced a class of cultural resources that must be assessed for historical significance. At the same time, archaeologists are also now frequently engaged in conducting surveys for federally-funded efforts to reverse historical environmental damage, such as projects funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. When do cultural resources associated with anthropogenic environmental damage qualify as historically significant for the purposes of cultural resources compliance? What ethical issues arise when modern-day efforts to reverse anthropogenic environmental damage threaten to impact such historic resources? These questions will be examined through two case studies from northwest Ohio.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology