Using Cultural Heritage and Historical Analyses for Current and Future Problems With Too Much or Too Little Water

Abstract

Living in a delta is part of the Dutch national identity and, for most people, part of daily life. The way in which we deal with water now is well rooted in history. The challenges with water but also the benefits have existed from prehistoric times up to the present day. However, the concept that we can use lessons from the past when addressing current issues of water management, flooding and drought is unknown to policy officers and decision makers. The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, as part of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, executes a programme on water and heritage. This programme aims to provide information that can be of use in spatial planning by civil services. The underlying principle is the premise that archaeologists and other cultural heritage professionals have the knowledge and means to make crossovers between heritage and climate change and issues related to it, such as flooding and drought. The programme consists of numerous projects, such as using cultural heritage research as a knowledge base for predicting the location of water-related problems in cities, researching the relation between soil, subsoil and water systems, and the location and development of cities. This article digs into the concept of using past data for present issues. It provides examples of how archaeological data and historical analysis can be used for current and future water-management problems.