Climate change and the loss of organic archaeological deposits in the Arctic

• DOI: 10.1038/srep28690
• Publication Date: 2016-06-30T09:32:08Z
• Authors: Jørgen Hollesen; Henning Matthiesen; Anders Bjørn Møller; Andreas Westergaa...; Bo Elberling
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 0601 history and archaeology; 06 humanities and the arts; 15. Life on land; Article

AbstractThe Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average with overlooked consequences for the preservation of the rich cultural and environmental records that have been stored for millennia in archaeological deposits. In this article, we investigate the oxic degradation of different types of organic archaeological deposits located in different climatic zones in West and South Greenland. The rate of degradation is investigated based on measurements of O2 consumption, CO2 production and heat production at different temperatures and water contents. Overall, there is good consistency between the three methods. However, at one site the, O2 consumption is markedly higher than the CO2 production, highlighting the importance of combining several measures when assessing the vulnerability of organic deposits. The archaeological deposits are highly vulnerable to degradation regardless of age, depositional and environmental conditions. Degradation rates of the deposits are more sensitive to increasing temperatures than natural soils and the process is accompanied by a high microbial heat production that correlates significantly with their total carbon content. We conclude that organic archaeology in the Arctic is facing a critical challenge that requires international action.