EAA 2020 virtual: Session 320. EAA Community ‘Climate Change and Heritage' (CCH) Roundtable
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 12/01/2021

Session organisers: Biehl, Peter F (University at Buffalo, SUNY) - Dalen, Elin - Vandrup Martens, Vibeke (Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research - NIKU)

We take it as a given that archaeology and the archaeological and cultural heritage of which it is part have much to offer efforts to address climate change: from palaeoclimatic data to models of adaptation and the roots of the modern global system within which modern climate change has developed. Evidence to date is showing that climate change presents an array of challenges for archaeology – from loss from erosion, fires, sea level rise, to disconnection due to migration and loss of contact of affiliated communities, and damage deriving from conflict and other social changes. If we understand climate change as a whole-of-society problem, then the fields of archaeology and heritage alone cannot realize its potentials for climate change or solve its challenges.
This fourth roundtable organized by the EAA Community Climate Change and Heritage (CCH) builds on the success of the Bern roundtable and hopes to extends two main issues discussed in Bern: (1) Prioritization and (2) Popularization.
We will also invite representatives of key archaeology associations such as the AIA, SAA and WAC as well as specialists in climate change and heritage research as a sounding board for the CCH activities as well as opinion leaders in methods and practice of climate change and heritage research. In addition, it will provide an update on the work done in and by the community since the Bern meeting, and discuss next steps for the Community to grow and extends its network and activities.