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Identifying impacts of sea level rise on coastal archaeological sites, a project of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact
  • Alanna Lecher,
  • April Watson
Alanna Lecher
Lynn University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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April Watson
Lynn University
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Abstract

The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact is a collaboration across Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties to stimulate sustainability and climate resilience across the counties. Efforts within the Regional Climate Action Plan, a product of the compact, include prevention, mitigation, and monitoring of climate change impacts to natural and cultural resources. In Palm Beach County, one such effort has been the monitoring of coastal archaeological sites vulnerable to sea level rise. The monitoring efforts include identification of coastal archaeological sites, precise mapping of site locations, excavation of the sites to determine the presence of artifacts and/or human remains, and geoarchaeological methods to assess how the site may be impacted by sea level rise. Preliminary results from sites within the region indicate that buried archaeological sites will experience sea level rise impacts earlier than expected as increased groundwater levels, in part caused by rising sea level, will expose the sites to damp and saturated conditions before the sites are over-topped by increased sea level. Increased moisture within the sediment that the sites are entrained in can lead to damage to the artifacts, especially in midden sites, which are mainly composed of faunal remains. Based on these findings, new methods determining risk level of coastal archaeological sites in South Florida are needed.