WHAT CAN ERODING COASTAL HERITAGE DO FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-11-25

Between 2012 and 2016, as part of the Scotland’s Coastal Heritage at Risk Project (SCHARP), the SCAPE Trust worked with around 400 volunteers to carry out a national survey of coastal archaeological heritage threatened by erosion. The survey built upon 20 years of coastal zone assessment survey in Scotland, covering around 35% of Scotland’s 16,000km long coastline. The purpose of the survey was to gain a national snapshot of the state of the threatened coastal heritage resource, and review the priority status of coastal sites at risk previously identified through a desk-based analysis of data gathered through professional coastal surveys. The SCHARP survey has resulted in a prioritised list of the most significant and the most vulnerable coastal archaeological sites within the survey areas. These can be referred to with confidence by heritage managers for strategic planning and resource allocation, and by academic and local communities as a valuable research and learning resource. In this paper we will present and evaluate our results and discuss two important outcomes of the project. The first is the value of long-term empirical data collection in documenting wider trends of coastal change affecting archaeological heritage; and the potential of using this approach to research the effect of a changing climate upon coastal processes going forward. The second is an assessment of the value of involving volunteers in the research. Volunteers significantly increased our capacity to carry out repeated largescale monitoring and recording of archaeological heritage impacted by erosive processes. The project has resulted in a productive research collaboration between local volunteers and archaeologists; laying the groundwork for improved understanding of the effects of climate change at our coasts across all sections of the community.


Author(s): Hambly, Joanna - Dawson, Tom - Graham, Ellie (University of St Andrews; The SCAPE Trust)