Thursday, June 15, 2006

Katrina archaeology In Katrina's Wake
My day-to-day work during those three months transformed the way I see the archaeology of New Orleans, as well as the archaeology of disaster. I now recognize how emotions, as much as environmental conditions, politics, and economic forces, can shape the archaeological record.
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From my brief deployment after Katrina, I can see that post-K demolition and rebuilding efforts will test the limits of the federal government and state agencies to respond to threats posed to an area with one of the largest concentrations of historic resources in the country. It's likely that Katrina will rewrite how archaeological sites and historic structures are managed in the context of disasters. It's even possible it will reshape preservation practices.