Archaeology and Climate Change: How You Can Help

 Last week we discussed how Native American sites are at risk of being damaged or lost completely due to sea level rise and climate change. Climate change is affecting all of our cultural resources in one way or another, and Florida is especially vulnerable. According to NOAA, the ocean is eight inches higher than it was in 1950, and it could rise up to another eight inches in the next twenty years. That is a significant rate increase in sea level rise! 

Higher sea levels bring with it more intense storm surge that pushes farther inland. It also increases the occurrence of nuisance flooding, such as King Tides (which occur more frequently now in South Florida). We are already seeing the effects of climate change in Florida. One of the complications with sea level rise is that different areas will see different impacts. A great tool for exploring how sea level rise will impact different geographic areas is the NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer

Today, almost 40% of the U.S. population lives in coastal areas that may be vulnerable to sea level rise. Coastal areas have always provided resources and been good places to live. This is true now and was also true for some of Florida’s earliest inhabitants. These early inhabitants left behind evidence of their culture and life, which now exist as archaeological sites. The Florida Master Site File data shows that over 16,000 cultural resources in Florida will be at risk with a one meter rise in sea level. With a two meter rise this number bumps up to over 34,000 cultural sites at risk. This is not an insignificant number. What can we do? We cannot move archaeological sites and it is impractical for a variety of reasons to excavate the entire site. And we cannot stop sea level rise in order to save these sites (although let’s hope we can perhaps curb the rate at which it is rising). 

Gathering data is a good course of action. We cannot tackle an issue if we do not define the problem.

An HMS Florida Scout monitors a
site along Florida's coastline.

Gathering data on archaeological sites helps us with understanding exactly how these sites are being affected by sea level rise. Baseline data can help us determine the rate at which these sites are being damaged and how. It can also help us in establishing techniques to stabilize and protect these sites. Of course, there are many more sites than there archaeologists and we are racing against the clock. This is where volunteers come in! And yes, you can help! 

The Florida Public Archaeology Network has a statewide public engagement program to help get the public involved in documenting and monitoring archaeological sites that are in danger due to climate change and sea level rise. Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida) is designed to have volunteers track changes to archaeological sites that are at risk. Scouts will receive monthly updates on training and resources that are available to them and will gain access to a database where they can document their findings systematically. This is a statewide program and anyone can participate, even children with adult supervision. Signing up as a Scout is a great way to get outdoors to explore and do some good too! If you would like more information or have questions about what sites are available to monitor in your area, contact your regional FPAN office.

And if you would like to learn more about HMS or Climate Change, below are some resources worth checking out: 

NOAA Climate Change: Global Sea Level

NOAA Tidal Gages Explained 

Heritage Monitoring Scouts: How to Monitor a Site

The Rising Tide: Native American Heritage at Risk Due to Climate Change

 Archaeological sites provide us clues to the past. These clues provide us with information we may otherwise never know. For example, evidence at these sites can provide clues to what prehistoric indeginous people were eating, what their houses looked like, population size, how they buried and memorialized their dead, and what tools they used. Often, these sites are the only clues we have of these previous occupants. Many of these sites in Florida exist at or below the current sea level and many of these sites exist along the coastline, where resources would have been abundant. Statewide, more than 16,000 archaeological sites are at risk due to climate change. In the Big Bend Region, this includes over 540 Native American archaeological sites. These sites include occupation and encampment sites, middens (refuse piles), resource extraction sites, mound, and burial sites. 

Many people are under the impression that Florida doesn’t have much archaeology or that its history does not span far back. In fact, Florida’s history spans over 14,000 years from what archaeologists know currently! Indeginous cultures in Florida were constructing mounds before the Egyptians were constructing pyramids! We can learn so much from these sites, including how indeginous people coped with previous sea level events. Archaeologists know that climate change and sea level rise are not new phenomena, but what worries them is the rate at which we are seeing these changes happen now. Archaeologists are already seeing sites with cultural material eroding from them due to sea level rise. We have seen sites, even those inland, destroyed due to stronger and more frequent storm events. We recognize that we cannot save them all, but we can do our best to document them and save those that are significant both from an archaeological standpoint, but also from a Native American cultural standpoint. 

Heritage Monitoring Scout workshop in East Point, FL,
volunteers learning to monitor archaeological
sites.

Archaeologists, including those from tribal governments, are working around the state to document and find solutions to protect our state’s most vulnerable sites. Living shorelines are being installed in some instances, 3D models are being constructed, GIS data is being compiled, and sites are being monitored statewide. These efforts are not just taking place in Florida, but around the country and globally. In some instances, such as with FPAN’s Heritage Monitoring Scouts program, volunteers are being utilized to help with the workload. 50 million indeginous people died from disease, massacres, and slavery as a result of European contact. Many oral histories, traditions, knowledge, and language disappeared along with them, and so it is even more important that we work to learn from and preserve as much as we can from these sites because in many instances they are all that is left of past cultures. Many archaeologists believe strongly that this is the least we can do for the descendants of these ancient indeginous people. Scientific data shows that climate change disproportionately affects minority and indeginous communities, and their cultural heritage is also at risk due to climate change.