Vulnerability of Indigenous heritage sites to changing sea levels: Piloting a GIS-based approach in the Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia
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Authors
Knott, Samuel
Szabo, Katherine
Ridges, Mal
Fullager, Richard
Editors
Meharry, J. Eva
Haboucha, Rebecca
Comer, Margaret
Illustrators
Knott, Samuel
Publication Date
2017-11-20Journal Title
Archaeological Review from Cambridge
Series
Archaeological Review from Cambridge: Volume 32.2: On the Edge of the Anthropocene?
ISSN
0261-4332
Publisher
Archaeological Review from Cambridge
Volume
32
Issue
2
Pages
78-97
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Knott, S., Szabo, K., Ridges, M., & Fullager, R. (2017). Vulnerability of Indigenous heritage sites to changing sea levels: Piloting a GIS-based approach in the Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia. Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 32 (2), 78-97. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.23663
Abstract
Climate change and sea level rise are expected to exacerbate existing coastal hazards such as erosion and inundation. As a result many coastal heritage sites around the world are expected to be put at potential risk of damage or destruction. The likely susceptibility of Australia’s Indigenous coastal heritage sites to these hazards is widely recognised but the sensitivity has not been quantified or analysed in detail. In order to assess the sensitivity of Indigenous coastal heritage sites, coastal indices of sensitivity and vulnerability were adapted to be used in a heritage context with a pilot study undertaken focused on the coastal Illawarra region of southern New South Wales, Australia. Desk based regional models were produced within the ArcGIS program for coastal shorelines in the region with underlying landform sensitivity used as a proxy for heritage site sensitivity. The relative effectiveness of the desk based modelling approach was also examined by ground-truthing of a number of sites analysed in the coastal site sensitivity index. Desk based regional modelling is shown to be a useful tool for planning and conservation management, particularly in directing resources to sites of the highest risk, and informing the direction of more in depth studies into the hazards faced by coastal Indigenous heritage sites.
Keywords
heritage management, hazards, sea-level change, climate change, coastal sensitivity index, GIS
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.23663
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/276365
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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