SEA LEVEL RISE AND IMPACTS TO CULTURAL HERITAGE, YAP ISLANDS, MICRONESIA
by Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Dr. Amy Gusick, Associate Curator of Archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, is raising funds to support archaeological fieldwork to better understand sea level rise around Yap, identify vulnerable cultural heritage sites, and strengthen engagement with and provide educational opportunities for local Yapese community members.
Yap is comprised of four small islands, Yap or Marbaq, Maap’, Gagil-Tamil, and Rumung. Modern sea level rise hastened by climate change and melting polar ice caps poses an imminent threat to small island nations around the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Micronesia, where sea level is expected to rise as much as six feet by the end of the century.
This inundation will result in widespread loss of cultural material. On the island of Yap, this loss will include evidence of the rich culture of the peoples that first occupied the island 3,000 years ago, and continues through today.
Evidence of the ancient Yapese cultural includes stone platforms that house faluw, a traditional structure built as a men’s community meeting house, and Rai, large doughnut-shaped discs that are typically made of calcite and can range from a few inches to over 12 feet in diameter. These discs were used as an official form of currency up until the beginning of the 20th century, and are still traded among the Yapese today. Aside from these stone remnants of the Yapese past, numerous archaeological shell midden sites that represent the initial hunter-gatherer occupants on the island are at risk of inundation by sea level rise.
This loss of data would hinder our ability to understand the origin of the human expansion onto Yap and whether the Yapese have an ancestral connection to the Lapita communities - whose Polynesian descendants eventually populated New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island - or to other communities in Southeast Asia or Melanesia.
Dr. Amy Gusick, along with colleagues from the University of Oregon, is developing a project focused on understanding sea level rise histories and identifying island regions most threatened by current sea level rise. These areas will be targeted for archaeological survey, site recordation, and data recovery. This data will be provided to the Yap Historic Preservation Office to assist with their land management and cultural preservation goals.
Dr. Amy Gusick, along with colleagues from the University of Oregon, is developing a project focused on understanding sea level rise histories and identifying island regions most threatened by current sea level rise. These areas will be targeted for archaeological survey, site recordation, and data recovery. This data will be provided to the Yap Historic Preservation Office to assist with their land management and cultural preservation goals.
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$1,920 RAISED
$6,000 GOAL
| This Appeal | 13 | 32% |
| has ended. | Believers | Funded |
This appeal has ended.