Identifying impacts of sea level rise on coastal archaeological sites, a
project of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact
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.