The Search for Ancient Landforms off the Washington Coast
Lia Frenchman, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Quinault Indian Nation

To aid the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN) in having a deeper understanding of their coastline and the waters that border the present-day reservation, the QIN Tribal Historic Preservation Office is working together with academic and agency researchers to refine current models for the identification of potential submerged ancient cultural landscapes along the US Pacific Outer Continental Shelf. While the collection of geophysical data will provide us with a picture of where the mighty Quinault River once flowed, integrating these data with Quinault oral histories and traditional knowledge can help us to more fully understand how Quinault people have adapted to rising sea levels across millennia. These measurable processes are more than just numbers that become depictions through the magic of GIS. These types of studies, when done in genuine partnership, feed the People of the landscape their confidence and a reinstated relationship that have been lost through colonization, but still exist in the memories and teachings. This project incorporates this outcome by allowing tribal members to have time with processes and procedures being used, spark new ways of thinking, and help provide an understanding of their individual practices with their lands.

From Change, New Ways to See: Historical Archaeology and Climate
Marcy Rockman, PhD, Director/Principal, Lifting Rocks, LLC

In 2006, archaeologist Shannon Lee Dawdy wrote eloquently about the effects of Hurricane Katrina on her interpretation of a late 18th century site in New Orleans. It’s not that the storm uncovered new artifacts, but rather her experience in helping to manage early stages of recovery in New Orleans gave her a new perspective: deposits she had described as being the outcome of an economic decision were, more likely, a family’s response to trauma. Her realization provides us with a powerful model now for our work in historical archaeology and climate change. 

Climate change is most often described in terms of its physical impacts - sea level rise, storms, droughts, wildfires. But the phenomena of climate change are the outcome of development of the modern world, centuries-long processes of colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization. Thus the study of the development of the modern world - historical archaeology – and those who practice and care for it are interwoven with all of the environmental and social transitions now taking place. And therefore it is important to explore how our experiences of these changes are shaping what we see, both in the past and for our roles into the future.