Between reclamation and restoration: the archaeology, historical ecology and future development of drained wetland landscapes

ABSTRACT

This editorial introduces the context for a special issue of the Journal of Wetland Archaeology, co-edited by Mairi Davies, Tom Gardner, Benjamin Gearey, Tymon de Haas, Mans Schepers and Michael Stratigos. The volume is a result of a session of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists hosted virtually by Kiel University entitled ‘The Historical Ecology of Reclamation Landscapes: Towards a Cross-Cultural Comparative Perspective’. The papers explore the archaeology and historical ecology of wetland environments which have been reclaimed and thus take on unique and important characteristics. This includes ever increasing importance as calls grow for wetland environments globally to be restored in order to combat two of the key challenges of the Anthropocene – climate change and biodiversity declines.

KEYWORDS:

• Reclamation
• drainage
• wetland restoration
• wetland degradation
• landscape archaeology