Abstract
There is no doubt that anthropogenic global warming is accelerating damage to cultural heritage. Adaptation measures are required to reduce the loss of sites, monuments and remains. However, little research has been directed towards understanding potential impacts of climate adaptation measures in other governmental sectors on cultural heritage. We provide a case study demonstrating that winter road salt, used to reduce ice related accidents, damages historical iron milestones. As the climate warms, road salt use will move north into areas where sites have been protected by contiguous winter snow cover. This will expose Artic/sub-Arctic cultural heritage, including Viking graves and Sami sites, to a new anthropogenic source of damage. Research and planning should therefore include the evaluation of secondary impacts when choosing climate adaptation strategies.
Highlights
In his 1991 Nature commentary, George Burns highlighted increasing levels of damage to cultural heritage, calling for a deeper understanding of the processes involved [1]
We studied 37 cast iron milestones in Södermanland County, Sweden dating from the 1760s and 1770s [19] (Figure 1)
This study provides empirical evidence of damage to historical cast iron monuments being caused by the application of road salt for improving road safety and mobility
Summary
In his 1991 Nature commentary, George Burns highlighted increasing levels of damage to cultural heritage, calling for a deeper understanding of the processes involved [1]. Climate change affects transport infrastructure, both in terms of mobility [6] and road safety [7], and adaptation measures are required. The consequences of these road safety measures, are, almost never studied with respect to their potential impacts on cultural heritage. De-icing road salts, whilst reducing accidents and saving money [7,8], damage the natural environment [9]. Their effects on cultural heritage have, only been assumed from the study of theoretically equivalent situations [10]. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is the most common road de-icing agent [17] and in 2005 18–23 million tonnes were spread in the US alone [14,18]
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