The erosion of coastal archaeological sites is a worldwide heritage crisis. However, regional variability in the archaeological record and the natural environment necessitates localized consideration of the erosion of archaeological sites to facilitate informed research prioritization decisions about coastal cultural resources. In this article, we present and compare the results of recent coastal survey programs from southern Nova Scotia and far northeastern Maine to earlier ones to ascertain the extent of erosion since the mid-twentieth century. We then situate regional erosion in culture-historical terms via a case study from archaeological sites at Sipp Bay, Maine, from which materials were collected and tested in the early to mid-twentieth century. We compare the results of that work to our recent excavations. Finally, we model future sea-level rise scenarios to estimate future site destruction and compare these models between regions. Together, these data illustrate patterns in site preservation for geoarchaeological examination, provide insight into erosion-driven biases in the extant archaeological record, and offer information to guide research prioritization.

It is often inferred that rising sea levels will result in widespread coastal recession. Erosion appeared prevalent in a worldwide compilation of evidence derived from maps and aerial photographs undertaken in the 1980s by the Commission on the Coastal Environment. Eric Bird, chair of the commission, inferred that >70% of sandy coastlines had retreated, a generalisation that has been widely cited. We reconsider these findings in respect of subsequent advances in shoreline mapping, including greater precision possible using geographical information systems and more frequent remote sensing imagery with increased spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. Satellite-derived shorelines now enable broad global and regional generalisations about shoreline position. Beaches fluctuate over a range of timescales, meaning that trends in their position are highly dependent on techniques and temporal scales adopted for monitoring. Recent global- and regional-scale shoreline assessments indicate that many sandy shorelines have been stable, and that detectable retreat has occurred on fewer beaches than previously inferred. Accretion is apparent on some coasts, particularly where engineering interventions protect or have reclaimed land. There is considerable variability in the behaviour of monitored beaches, and it is not yet possible to decipher a response to the gradual centimetre-scale rise in sea level of recent decades. Instead, we re-emphasise the several other factors that were considered to contribute to recession by the Commission, many of which relate to a change in sediment budget. To provide insights into future coastline behaviour, a better understanding of the multiple drivers on individual beaches is needed to discriminate between erosional events and longer-term trends in shoreline position.

Archaeologists have relied on the presence of European material on Indigenous New England sites as the main indicator that a site was occupied during the sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries—a span often characterized as the Contact period. The AD 1480–1630 span is particularly difficult to sequence because it lies on a radiocarbon calibration plateau. Here we report on a program of AMS dating from an Indigenous site on Great Island on Cape Cod in Massachusetts that highlights evidence of widespread activity during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries—absent European material culture. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence indicates that a previously excavated colonial tavern in the same area on Great Island was the last in a long-term occupation in which “European contact” was not a defining event. Instead, the evidence points to a continuous Indigenous presence extending from the Middle Woodland period. Later colonial period activities, including those associated with European material, were mapped onto a long-standing Indigenous task-scape.

Community Coastal Zone Assessment Surveys (CCZASs) conducted on the Scottish coast aim to characterize and assess the significance, condition, and vulnerability of coastal archaeology and to prioritize assets most at risk. Two key differences from earlier coastal zone assessment survey methods are the use of coastline vulnerability models to target fieldwork and the involvement of the public in the surveys. This article details the methodology used to plan for, carry out, and disseminate results of the surveys, including the following: evaluating and targeting coastlines in a GIS framework to focus new coastal surveys in areas most susceptible to erosion, using SCAPE's coastal archaeology recording mobile application as our survey tool, managing data through SCAPE's Sites at Risk portal, involving local volunteers, and disseminating findings and data flow into regional and national historic environment databases. We discuss results and reflections from surveys of the Highland, Moray, and Aberdeenshire coastlines conducted in 2022 and conclude with general principles applicable beyond Scotland.

Archaeological research conducted in Morocco over the last two decades has revealed a wealth of diachronic maritime cultural heritage resources, under water and in the coastal zone. However, observation and study has revealed that natural and anthropogenic threats are impacting these resources. Given the challenges to managing maritime cultural heritage (MCH) resources in a country with such an extensive coastline and limited human managerial resources, the national heritage agency and external research institutions have developed methodologies that in part aim at mitigating these threats. This development is illustrated through three projects, briefly outlined here: the Oued Loukkos Survey, the CBDAMM Project and the MarEA Project. These projects incorporate approaches that have been tailored to the Moroccan context, considering the type of resources, the extent of the coastline, types of threats, legislation, and people and institutions involved. In conclusion, this article stresses that an interdisciplinary methodological approach to documentation is necessary in order to inform successful mitigation strategies and to plan for future interventions of MCH.

Coastal communities cannot depend on funding from the state or federal government to maintain high-quality beaches that benefit the public and attract tourist revenues. This article investigates the feasibility and efficiency of beach improvement projects at two Georgia barrier islands through the alternative funding mechanisms of general-revenue financing and user fees. Benefits are calculated from an intensive, on-site survey of beach visitors, and the costs are calculated from observable sources. The analyses presented support beach improvement as an effective policy on both islands under all scenarios considered.

This paper uses the results of a nationwide survey of coastal property owners to estimate the demand for insurance against erosion damage. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) does not technically cover such damage, although in practice there is considerable uncertainty about this point. The ability to insure against such losses has implications for the choice of beach management strategies and for NFIP management. We find significant demand for insurance at prices in the range of current flood insurance premiums, although median willingness to pay appears to be less than the cost of providing such insurance.

This article identifies ways to overcome impediments to restoring natural features on developed shores where human-use functions are the dominant driving forces. Suggestions are made for (1) incorporating natural features and natural dynamism into beach nourishment projects; (2) addressing constraints in size and space; (3) reducing the impact of human actions and elements in the landscape; (4) integrating endangered species programmes; (5) overcoming impediments to implementing restoration projects; (6) conducting post-construction evaluations and actions; (7) obtaining public support; and (8) addressing regulatory issues. Beach nourishment projects can better mimic natural landforms, while protecting infrastructure and habitat, creating space for dunes, and providing sediment for dune building. Dunes can have more value as habitat if sub-environments representative of natural gradients are accommodated. Greater human effort will be required to maintain both dynamic and stable zones for habitat, and these zones may be restricted to smaller scales. Controls can be placed on human actions, such as raking the beach, driving on the beach, walking through the dune, emplacing more structures than necessary and introducing exotic vegetation for landscaping. Regulatory restrictions that now prevent environmentally friendly actions can be eased, and adaptive management and education programmes can be implemented.

During 2006–2007, the KwaZulu-Natal coast of South Africa was exposed to several large swell events (Ho > 3 m), near the peak of the lunar nodal cycle, causing shoreline recession. The largest swell (Hs = 8.5 m) struck the coast on the March equinox (18th–20th) and generated a strong storm-return flow. Observations made before, during and after record dramatic coastal erosion (shoreline recession of up to 40 m and substantial property damage). This swell event removed the semi-continuous nearshore bar system and ‘conditioned’ the coast such that lesser subsequent swell events accomplished much greater amounts of coastal erosion than expected (up to 100 m at certain erosion hotspots) because waves reached the coast without significant energy dissipation. Subsequent bar generation rebuilt the inshore bars within six months. The styles of erosion during the March ’07 event and other 2007 swells were markedly different. Lesser swells are focused by headlands and result in megarip development and activation of erosion hotspots. The March ’07 event still-water level was raised (equinoctial spring high tide and a storm surge of 0.33–0.45 m) to a level that rendered most headlands (and erosion hotspots) ineffective and resulted in laterally extensive erosion of soft shorelines. Results record cumulative effects of successive swell events on coastal behaviour that proved to be critical in enabling erosion to proceed at rapid rates after the coast had been initially destabilized. Unlike hurricanes and tsunamis, surges associated with swell events are relatively minor and therefore extensive erosion is linked with high lunar tides. There is circumstantial evidence that swell-induced erosion follows the broad 18.6 yr lunar nodal tidal cycle when the chances of large swells coinciding with high water levels are increased.