As Israeli forces destroy sites and monuments in Gaza, an archaeologist explains how international organizations charged with protecting cultural heritage should intervene—but have not.An anthropologist discusses her film that honors and grieves the loss of Kime, a friend who passed away after experiencing physical and state violence.
The image got me thinking about what archaeological research can tell us about disasters and climate change. As an archaeologist, I seek to answer questions about the choices we make and the things we own and love. Despite the difficulty of studying ordinary but meaningful objects associated with traumatic events, archaeologists have long studied the impact of disasters, such as tsunamis, large-scale El Niño events, andthe recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans to consider the material, political, and emotional processes that continue to impact places after the disaster.
Some argue that drought, the salinization of soils, and a potato cyst may have undermined the raised field system that the state relied upon., including urbanization and pollution, and the impacts of human-driven climate change. For instance, the glacial peaks that have long held spiritual significance to the Indigenous Aymara are now bare of snow.