Time, Wind, and Waves: Protecting Coastal Heritage in North Carolina

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Bridging the Land and the Sea: Documenting and Assessing Climate Impacts on North Carolina’s Coastal Heritage", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Sea level rise and intensifying storm systems are an increasing threat to many archaeological sites throughout coastal North Carolina, including submerged archaeological resources. While shoreline erosion presents the greatest threat to terrestrial resources, maritime resources present different challenges with respect to climate-driven impacts. The maritime cultural resources identified during the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology’s Shorescape project allow for a holistic view of how to ensure long-term preservation of these resources and mitigate climate-related impacts across a range of sites including maritime infrastructure, shipwrecks, and formerly exposed landscapes. This paper summarizes the findings of the maritime component of the Shorescape project and discusses the potential mitigation strategies for the preservation of North Carolina’s coastal heritage moving forward.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bridging the Land and the Sea: Documenting and Assessing Climate Impacts on North Carolina’s Coastal Heritage   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow