Climate Change Reveals A Boon To Archaeologists

NPR

Published September 7, 2015 at 12:20 PM EDT

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Ruins are shown in the ghost town of St. Thomas on August 3, 2015 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. The town was founded in 1865 by Mormon pioneers at the site where the Muddy River flowed into the Colorado River and at one point had about 500 settlers. The town was abandoned in 1938 after the construction of the Hoover Dam caused the Colorado River to rise. The area was once submerged in 60 feet of water but became entirely exposed to the air as a severe drought in the Western United States over the last 15 years has caused Lake Mead to drop to historic low levels. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Melting glaciers and dry lakebeds may seem to be a purely negative result of global climate change, but they’ve had a positive impact for one group of people: archaeologists.

As previously inaccessible areas become exposed, thousands of new artifacts are being uncovered, leaving archaeologists scrambling to keep up and preserve what they can.

How is our changing modern world affecting our understanding of its history? Glacial archaeologist Martin Callanan and National Park Service Archaeologist Steve Daron discuss their shifting field with Here & Now’s Peter O’Dowd.

Guests

Martin Callanan, archaeologist at Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Steve Daron, archaeologist at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.