Ice Patch Archaeology in Glacier National Park. Photo by R.L. Kelly
by Marissa McLean
2015 graduate of U Oregon
Of the monumental issues we face today, climate change and its consequences are some of the most important. While numerous groups are trying to develop resiliency, one subject not often included in climate change discussions is archaeology. Archaeology provides substantial evidence for climate change because of coastal erosion and ice patch archaeology. Archaeology can reveal the technologies, subsistence strategies, housing and tools that Native
Americans and First Nations developed to adapt to their environments. We have the privilege of studying these sites, but they are disappearing rapidly.
Coastal erosion can be seen on numerous sites on the Northwest Coast and the greater Pacific coast region. From Marin County, CA, to Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, coasts are eroding at drastic speeds. According to a U.S Geological Survey, between 2002 and 2007 coastal erosion has doubled in some areas (Weinhold
64). Coastal erosion not only destroys archaeological evidence, but contemporary infrastructure.
In “The Necessary Roles of Archaeology in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation”, Marcy Rockman argues for how archaeology can be integral to how we address climate issues. Rockman asserts that archaeology can render valuable information with respect to the “nature, rate and persistence of social change” (Rockman 2011:194). She introduces the concept of the “human barometer” which plays a key role in climate science. She defines human barometer as: “the extent to which site and landscape scale archaeological data can indicate what measurable environmental change may have meant for people, their economies and their social systems on the ground in a given region over an extended period of time” (Rockman 2011:196). Because archaeology is the study of past conditions, it provides an extensive history of human
interaction with the planet and can help us change the present and predict the future.
Archaeological research has helped us define the characteristics of the
Middle Holocene. We know that climate was cooler and wetter than the Early Holocene, but drier and warmer than the conditions of today (Moss, 2015). This helps us infer what human life was like during the past. Rockman’s idea is that environmental destruction cannot be blamed on one aspect of the relationship between humans and the environment, but rather, that it is the “work of integrated sociological systems…the whole being a working of the parts” (Rockman 2011:204). Rockman (2011) talks about the power of stories in this complex web of humans and the environment. Just like Native oral traditions can reveal facts that science later documents, stories can answer questions of why people choose to interact with environments in the way they do. It is crucial to work with First Nations to fully understand what Rockman (2011) calls “the sacred order of the world.” Traditional Ecological Knowledge is based on accumulation of observations (Berkes et al. 2000:1251) and is important to developing contemporary sustainable resource use. Though climate change is a global issue, action occurs at a local level. Berkes asserts that TEK is reliant on local knowledge. TEK and scientific ecology are complementary for adaptive management (Berkes et. al, p. 1259). Maybe then archaeological research will become relevant to the lives of the people most affected by the consequences of climate change.
Climate change can reveal new archaeological information. Because of rising global temperatures, snow and ice are melting in areas that have not been exposed for thousands of years. The case of Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi (“Long Ago Person Found” in Tutchone) is illustrative. Working with Champagne and Aishihik tribes in British Columbia, archaeologists revealed information on subsistence strategies and connections between people across a large region
(Moss 2015). In his blog post, “New Finds From NWT Ice Patches,” Quentin Mackie described the objects from ice patches near Whitehorse. These include a birch arrow and projectile points. Mackie argues that because these finds are over 8,000 years old and are just now being released from the ice, this is strong evidence for climate change affecting these sites. The image above shows a woman excavating an ice patch at Glacier National Park, where the melting ice is exposing fragments of wood and many tools.
Any action concerning climate change needs to happen NOW, not in the future. According to Craig Lee, ice patch archaeology today “coincides with public recognition of global warming and public lands policy” (Lee 2014:15) and
provides a “silver lining.” Because many of the items melting out of ice are organic, while most excavated tools are not, ice patch archaeology can be very productive. It can reveal details of hunting and travel, but also of use of spiritually important locations in the mountains (Lee 2014:17), like those revered by the Salish in Glacier National Park.