Northern communities are facing many problems associated with rapid and dramatic warming in the Arctic, among them devastating losses to their cultural heritage. Humans have occupied Arctic coastlines for thousands of years. In many places the remains of their dwellings, camps, and villages are exquisitely preserved. Even fragile organic materials have been protected from decay in the frozen ground. Now, such sites are increasingly at risk as warmer summers and less cold winters cause permafrost to retreat and long-preserved wood, fur, and feathers to decay. In some areas, whole sites are endangered as dramatic coastal erosion linked to both melting permafrost and diminished sea ice washes them away.

This talk will look at the damage climate change is doing to prehistoric and historic archaeological site across the Arctic, and the ways archaeologists and northern communities are coping with this emerging problem. Starting with her own work at Etah, Greenland, LeMoine will illustrate the various ways sites are being destroyed, and the efforts to save them.

Genevieve LeMoine has been doing archaeological fieldwork in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland for over 30 years. Her research has taken her from the Mackenzie Delta all the way to northern Ellesmere Island and Northwestern Greenland. She is curator of The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center, Bowdoin College.

Her presentation is sponsored by the 2021 Camden Conference, which this year will be exploring the Arctic, one of the world’s least-known regions.

Photograph by Lara Bluhm, Courtesy of the Inglefield Land Archaeology Project.