Ancient and Urgent: Climate Change Threats to the Arctic Heritage Record

Ancient and Urgent: Climate Change Threats to the Arctic Heritage Record

Professor Max Friesen | University of Toronto 

Thursday, August 21, 4:00pm - 7pm | Vere Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom

Modern climate change is causing enormous impacts on almost every aspect of modern life, many of which are relatively well understood by the public. Less well known is its impact on cultural heritage, with a range of mechanisms leading to destabilization or destruction of archaeological sites. This paper presents an overview of the problem in one of the world’s most highly impacted regions: the western Canadian Arctic. Coastal sites are being rapidly destroyed by a combination of sea level rise, melting of permafrost, increasing storminess, and other factors. The physical heritage of the Inuvialuit, who live in Canada’s Mackenzie Delta, is being washed out to sea at an ever-increasing pace. This paper will review the results of an archaeological project designed to understand and address this problem, which included the first-ever excavation of two of the very large multi-family houses unique to the region.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Max Friesen is a professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, specializing in the archaeology of the North American Arctic. His four decades of fieldwork explore how the linkages between social organization, world view, economy, technology, and environment have shaped the lives of Inuit and their ancestors over the past 5,000 years. His research is performed in close collaboration with Inuit communities and organizations, and is intended to have a positive impact in the North as well as in academic contexts. He is the author of over 70 academic publications, most in major international journals, has authored or co-authored two books, and is senior editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic.

Venue:

Vere Gordon Childe Centre Boardroom
Level 4, Madsen Building
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