Of time and tide: the complex impacts of climate change on coastal and underwater cultural heritage

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has documented wide-ranging changes to the world's coasts and oceans, with significant further change predicted. Impacts on coastal and underwater heritage sites, however, remain relatively poorly understood. The authors draw on 30 years of research into coastal and underwater archaeological sites to highlight some of the interrelated processes of deterioration and damage. Emphasising the need for closer collaboration between, on one hand, archaeologists and cultural resource managers and, on the other, climate and marine scientists, this article also discusses research from other disciplines that informs understanding of the complexity of the interaction of natural and anthropogenic processes and their impacts on cultural heritage. Keywords: climate change, coastal heritage, underwater cultural heritage, environment, impact, erosion
Introduction Coastal environments have long been favoured for human migration and settlement. For millennia, these locations have provided access to resources and well-connected places for exchange and defence (Dawson et [...]