The warming of the Arctic associated with contemporary climate change poses a specific threat to the permafrost that preserves the archaeological and paleontological record of the region.

As permafrost thaws, the organic material it has preserved begins to decay — bones that have survived tens of thousands of years in frozen conditions begin to deteriorate rapidly when exposed to the microbial activity that thawing enables.

Sites that are currently intact may be degraded or destroyed as the permafrost that protects them continues to thaw.

For the Bluefish Caves record specifically, the partial preservation of the sediments by periodic freezing means that the site is somewhat less vulnerable to rapid permafrost thaw than sites buried in continuous deep permafrost.

But the region’s climate is changing rapidly, and the implications for archaeological preservation across the northern Yukon and Alaska are a genuine concern for researchers working in the region.