History

Arctic regions contain many archaeological sites with exceptional organic preservation is due to the climate. Beyond the features and artifacts left by past humans, these sites archive the residues of human subsistence activities, as stratified layers, often spanning millennia, of the remains of animals and plants gathered from the surrounding area. These remains are archived samples from past ecosystems that cannot be replicated. 
These samples can be used to investigate issues well beyond traditional social science, in fields like biology or paleoclimatology. New techniques make it possible to examine factors such as trophic levels, changes in stock structure, population bottlenecks, and movements of animal populations across both space and time.
It is possible not only to reconstruct ecosystems, but to see how they changed through time, and correlate those changes with possible drivers, such as climate change, changes in human exploitation, or natural catastrophes.  This can provide critical information to those trying to manage fisheries or wildlife and to those whose food security depends on successful hunting and foraging.
Arctic sites have been considered stable.  However, the changing climate has altered the situation.  As the ground warms, factors leading to decay of organic materials (bacteria, mold and chemical processes) all are active for longer periods of the year, at much higher intensity. At a certain point, this becomes a positive feedback loop.  Coastal sites are particularly threatened. Erosion rates have increased tremendously, due to warming permafrost, sea ice retreat and longer ice-free seasons. Loss rates of 10s of meters per year have been recorded in some places.  These valuable paleoecological archives are disappearing before our eyes.

Public Archaeology and Climate Change promotes new approaches to studying and managing sites threatened by climate change, specifically actions that engage communities or employ ‘citizen science’ initiatives.

Researchers and heritage managers around the world are witnessing severe challenges and developing innovative mechanisms for dealing with them. Increasingly archaeologists are embracing practices learned from the natural heritage sector, which has long worked with the public in practical recording projects. By involving the public in projects and making data accessible, archaeologists are engaging society in the debate on threatened heritage and in wider discussions on climate change. Community involvement also underpins wider climate change adaptation strategies, and citizen science projects can help to influence and inform policy makers. Developing threats to heritage are being experienced around the world, and as this collection of papers will show, new partnerships and collaborations are crossing national boundaries.

With examples from across the globe, this book brings together a selection of papers that detail the scale of the problem through a variety of case studies. Together they will demonstrate how heritage professionals, working in diverse environments and with distinctive archaeology, are engaging with the public to raise awareness of this threatened resource. The contributions in this volume will examine differing responses and proactive methodologies for the protection, preservation and recording of sites at risk from natural forces. It will demonstrate how new approaches can better engage people with the growing number of sites that are under increasing threat of destruction, thus contributing to the resilience of our shared heritage. The new insights using real-life examples presented in this volume will make it a key reference in the field of climate change and heritage studies.