Dr Jess Cook Hale has just returned from the annual Society for Historical Archaeology meeting in New Orleans, U.S.A., where she was one of several panelists invited to discuss the evolution of best practices in managing cultural heritage in the intertidal and sub-tidal zones.

Entitled, “Making Waves in Coastal Archaeology: Re-evaluating Current and Emerging Field Methodologies for the Archaeological Survey of Vanishing Shorelines”, Jess was joined by session organisers Amy Borgens and Tracy Lovingood of the Texas Historical Commission, Dr Amanda Evans of Gray & Pape, Inc., a prominent commercial archaeological consultancy with decades of experience in marine archaeology, and Chip McGimsey of the Louisiana Division of Archaeology.

The panel’s goal was to establish a multidisciplinary consensus towards best practices for archaeological investigations in coastal areas. These regions are increasingly vulnerable; approximately 50% of global coastlines are experiencing erosion and/or subsidence even as climate change and sea level rise accelerate coastal loss. Coastal protection and conservation developments designed to abate these conditions are also potentially destructive to existing coastal, intertidal, and sub-tidal archaeological sites.

The panel discussants evaluated current methods of investigation of coastal, intertidal, and sub-tidal archaeological sites. While the current state of the art and science in this field remains an evolving target, this panel is just the beginning of ongoing conversations across academia, commercial archaeology, and regulatory frameworks that aim to propose more effective survey methodologies, better models for site identification and delineation, and an overall multidisciplinary consensus towards best practices for these archaeological investigations.