Archaeological sites rich in shellfish and animal bones on Santa Rosa Island. A. CA-SRI-190 is a 25 cm thick deposit perched on a low lying marine terrace adjacent to the shore. B. CA-SRI-701 is a 50 cm thick deposit adjacent to the coast and several meters high on an eroding sea cliff. Arrows note the dark bands of archaeological materials. Such sites are typical of the location of archaeological sites on the Santa Barbara Channel. Reeder, et al., 2010 By Staff Writers
Nov 03, 2010 Washington DC (SPX) Nov 03, 2010 – Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion.

With no hope of saving all of these sites, archaeologists Torben Rick from the Smithsonian Institution, Leslie Reeder of Southern Methodist University, and Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon have issued a call to action for scientists to assess the sites most at risk. Writing in the Journal of Coastal Conservation and using California’s Santa Barbara Channel as a case study, the researchers illustrate how quantifiable factors such as historical rates of shoreline change, wave action, coastal slope and shoreline geomorphology can be used to develop a scientifically sound way of measuring the vulnerability of individual archaeological sites. They then propose developing an index of the sites most at risk so informed decisions can be made about how to preserve or salvage them. … Thousands of archaeological sites-from large villages and workshops to fragmented shell middens and lithic scatters-are perched on the shorelines and sea cliffs of the Santa Barbara Channel, the researchers point out. …

image [See also: Climate Change: Sites in Peril] Archaeological Sites Threatened By Rising Seas