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New Open Access GCE LTER Publications in Communications Earth and Environment and Advances in Archaeological Practice
“The Timing of Sea-Level Rise Impacts to Cultural Heritage Sites along the Georgia Coast, USA, through Fine-Grain Ecological Modeling”
Cochran, Lindsey, Victor D. Thompson, Christine Hladik, Ellen Herbert, and David G. Anderson
2024 The Timing of Sea Level Rise Impacts to Cultural Heritage Sites along the Georgia Coast, USA through Fine Grain Ecological Modeling. Advances in Archaeological Practice. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.19
Sea-level rise and climate change pose significant threats to the archaeological record along the southeastern U.S. coast, including more than 4,000 documented sites on the Georgia coast alone. This study explores how digital mapping and modeling can be used to predict the impact of rising seas on cultural heritage. Using data from the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), the researchers applied the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to estimate which cultural resources are most at risk. Archaeological site data from Georgia’s Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources Geographic Information System (GNAHRGIS) were incorporated to assess the extent of threatened sites due to projected sea-level rise.
“Modern coastal ecosystems of the American Southeast are shaped by deep-time human-environment interactions”
Holland-Lulewicz, Jacob, Brandon T. Ritchison, Matthew D. Howland, Isabelle Holland-Lulewicz, Amanda Roberts Thompson, Victor D. Thompson** (**corresponding author with lead)
2025 Modern Georgia’s Coastal Ecosystems are a Product of Deep-time Human-Environment Interactions. Communications Earth and Environment 6, 238. doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02189-1
Past coastal landscapes of Georgia reveal that humans have long been active agents of environmental change. This paper highlights how 5,000 years of Indigenous Native American and early industrial Euro-American settlement along the Georgia coast have shaped, and continue to shape, its ecosystems. Archaeological evidence from recent field projects demonstrates that, in addition to the large-scale impacts of Euro-American settlement, Indigenous communities intentionally modified island landscapes long before colonization. These actions created enduring human-ecological legacies across millennia. This study argues that, specifically on the Georgia coast, humans have been primary legacy drivers, playing critical roles in the development of ecological processes, biodiversity, and long-term resilience.
(Contact Victor Thompson for additional information)
submitted May 22, 2025
