Rising sea levels are threatening the remains of some of the oldest human settlements in North America, sites UO archaeologist Jon Erlandson has been studying for decades.

Erlandson, director of the UO’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, was quoted in a recent story in the Los Angeles Times that described the danger to sites on the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California. Erlandson is among the experts working to save what they can of the islands’ valuable history.

Sea level rise and stronger storm surges ultimately will wash away some of the camp and village sites used by some of the first peoples to settle the continent, the Times story said. Erlandson and other researchers are assessing the sites and assigning them a risk category reflecting the danger faced by climate change.

The story said conservationists and archaeologists are working to uncover and save artifacts from eight sites labeled “Code Red” that are at imminent risk of being lost. Dozens of other sites are being ranked for future work.

“There’s not enough time to save everything,” the newspaper quoted Erlandson as saying. “We’re trying to record and salvage all we can before it’s too late.”

Erlandson has been studying the islands for more than 30 years. His work has turned up some of the earliest evidence of seafaring and maritime cultures in the Americas at sites dating back more than 12,000 years.

―By Greg Bolt, Public Affairs Communications