Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Peter F. Biehl, University of California Santa Cruz, USA, pbiehl@ucsc.edu
Eszter Bánffy, European Association of Archaeologists, Budapest, Hungary, banffy.eszter@gmail.com
This session seeks to explore how archaeological advocacy can increase awareness of climate change threats to global cultural heritage. It aligns with an evolving focus on archaeologists as advocates for archaeological resources and the information they hold. The archaeological focus on the study of the interaction between human social and cultural systems and climate and environment is a major contribution to global change studies, providing insight into sustainable approaches to the future. In addition, climate change has catalysed archaeologists to form partnerships with researchers from a wide range of geographic areas and disciplines, who all share the common experience of bearing witness to cultural heritage loss. Given the importance of advocacy for access to resources and governance to protect cultural heritage there is an urgent need to highlight the crucial role of archaeology and its potential in the understanding of climate change in the past as well as its impact in the present and the future beyond our professional networks to the general public via museums and education, as well as the media. Based on the experience gained from the human past about coping practices, the session solicits papers that will discuss ways to translate the archaeology of climate change into actionable science to inform decision making within a global framework of climate change action in the public, as well as in intergovernmental panels, agencies, and associations. A first step towards this goal, along with a call for interdisciplinary and international collaboration is the “Kiel Statement”, which was endorsed by organisations such as the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), and ICOMOS, the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), and the World Archaeological Congress (WAC). Such formal statements regarding the detrimental effects of climate change on cultural heritage resources provide action items for archaeologists and cultural resources managers to mitigate against these effects through innovative methodologies, alternative forms of preservation, and enhanced public engagement.
Papers:
Expanding Organisational Outreach: The Evolution of the Society for American Archaeology Committee on Climate Change Strategies and Archaeological Resources
Carole Nash, James Madison University, USA
Heather Wholey, West Chester University, USA
Since 2014, the Society for American Archaeology Committee on Climate Change Strategies and Archaeological Resources (CCSAR) has convened to advise the organisation on the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage. The committee formulated a statement for practice, policy, and education-focused actions that the organisation adopted in 2022. It also established working relationships with sister organisations in other countries and regions. Paper and poster sessions at the SAA Annual Meeting and publications by committee members ensure that research is shared widely. With the rapid intensification of climate change impacts, the committee’s work has evolved to be more interdisciplinary and engaged with communities most affected by the loss of cultural heritage. CCSAR collaborates with Tribal leadership and government practitioners to develop immersive experiences that emphasise the importance of bearing witness to cultural heritage loss. Designed to help practitioners translate global scale processes of climate change to a human scale, these activities expand the relevance of archaeology to a broader set of partners.
Evolution of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Central Asia Under the Influence of the Holocene Indian Monsoon
Xinying Zhou, Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Bahediyoh Sayfullaev, National Centre of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Guanhan Chen, Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Li Xiaoqiang, Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
The emergence and development of agro-pastoral economies in Central Asia exerted pivotal influences on the trans-Eurasian diffusion of wheat-based agriculture and mobile pastoralism across East Asia, South Asia, and North Asia. Through integrated analyses of paleoenvironmental proxies, archaeobotanical data, and zooarchaeological evidence from four key sites (Toda Cave, Sapalli, Dajarkudan, Molleli), this study investigates the co-evolution of agro-pastoral systems and the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) civilisation. Multidisciplinary analyses demonstrate that: Proto-agro-pastoral communities emerged in Central Asian foothill-steppe ecotones by 9000 cal BP, engaging in seasonal transhumance and early cultivation practices. The BMAC civilisation reached its zenith during 4200–3900 cal BP (AMS 14C-dated stratigraphy), followed by progressive decline post-3900 cal BP, temporally correlated with the 4.2 ka climatic anomaly. Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) dynamics during the Early-Mid Holocene governed southern Central Asia’s ecological thresholds, inducing precipitation reduction and C4 plant dominance decline, thereby restructuring agro-pastoral settlement patterns.
Barriers to Inclusive Archaeological Engagement with Climate Change: Critical Reflections on Practice and Discourse
Koji Mizogushi, Kyushu University, Japan
In recent years, archaeology’s engagement with climate change has deepened through increasingly sophisticated applications of natural scientific techniques for environmental reconstruction. While these developments have advanced our understanding of past human-environment interactions, they have also unintentionally contributed to a growing sense of exclusion among archaeologists from diverse backgrounds. This paper critically examines the structural and discursive effects that prevent archaeology from becoming a genuinely open and inclusive space for climate-related commitments and practices.
Three interrelated issues are explored: (1) the dominance of high-cost, specialist-driven methodologies that marginalise scholars without access to advanced infrastructure or funding; (2) the increasingly technical and elitist tone of discussions, which can alienate practitioners grounded in different traditions or theoretical perspectives; and (3) excessive specialisation and localism, which hinder the sharing of insights and strategies across regions and subfields. Drawing on both institutional and personal observations, the paper argues for a more reflexive, pluralistic, and accessible archaeology of climate change—one that enables broader participation, values multiple ways of knowing, and fosters cross-cultural dialogue. By addressing these barriers, the discipline can more effectively mobilise its collective expertise to confront the global challenges of climate change.
Leading the Change in Europe: Heritage and Archaeology Research in Times of Climate Change
Vibeke Vandrup Martens, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, Norway
Peter F. Biehl, Dept of Anthropology, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
The outset of modern European cultural heritage management and thus the basis for research of material remains of past lives is the Valletta Treaty of 1992. The treaty was leading to a change in our understanding of archaeological excavation as the only way to preserve the past and, instead, that we should try and preserve some of these non-renewable resources for future generations, preferably in situ. However, when the treaty was written, nobody thought about the rapid increase of environmental impacts on archaeological preservation, and certainly not about the impacts of climate change. Global environmental changes require interdisciplinary research and international collaborations to find solutions that may enable continued heritage preservation for future generations on a global scale. The paper discusses examples of such international collaborations in Europe ranging from archaeological research and heritage management projects to policies and principles of professional and non-profit organizations as well as outreach to the public via museums and the media. We will also highlight the importance of teaching the future public stakeholders in the classrooms and of training the next generation of archaeologists, heritage managers, and museum professionals about the impacts of climate change to our global heritage.
Amazon Revealed: Using Archaeology to Protect Threatened Areas in the Amazon
Eduardo Góes Neves, Professor Titular, Diretor, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Large-scale deforestation and agricultural expansion are the stronger activities contributing to the emission of greenhouse gases in Brazil. Since the 1980s, the Brazilian Amazon has lost almost 20% of its forests, mostly to cattle ranching. On the other hand, archaeology has shown in the last decades how Indigenous people have transformed nature and shaped the Amazon that we know today. The Amazon Revealed Project is LiDAR mapping archaeological sites located in areas covered by forests along the so-called deforestation arch in the southern Amazonian rim. Most of the flights are preceded by in situ consultations with communities who live in the surveyed areas. The presentation will show the preliminary results of our attempts to conciliate large-scale survey and local on the ground community research as tools to protect threatened territories in the Amazon.