After the Storm, Destruction and Reconstruction: The Potential for an Archaeology of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of the United States Gulf Coast in 2005 represents a recordable, archaeological landscape of contemporary history. Archaeology has the potential to serve as an interface in the study of Hurricane Katrina devastation uniting existing public history records with oral history studies to document a lost way of life. Here the practical relevance and social significance of contemporary archaeology is presented through the example of Hurricane Katrina. This paper will discuss the significance of modern ruins, the material record of the reclamation process, and the guidance needed to preserve the historic record.