Natural disasters and cultural heritage: Assessing the effects of the 2023 flooding on the archaeology of central Thessaly, Greece

Abstract

In September of 2023, storm Daniel caused catastrophic consequences for Libya, Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey by taking the lives of thousands of people and displacing tens of thousand more, destroying infrastructure and forms of income. There is an abundance of previous research for the impacts of natural disasters on archaeology but only with a focus on negative consequences. Case studies of active archaeological projects that have been affected by flooding are also lacking. Research so far as primarily focused on developing risk assessment in areas that are considered both susceptible to natural disasters. The goal of this essay is to study the negative impacts and assess the risks of an area, both pre- and post-flood, while also exploring for the first time positive outcomes of storms and precipitation-driven flooding on archaeology, through a case study of an ongoing archaeological project in Thessaly, Greece, that was affected by Daniel. Data was gathered through a field study in the region and, subsequent, spatial analysis of the topography and hydrology of the study area using QGIS. The impacts include damages on the site and storage room and new revelations such as cultural layers, fortification walls and other structures. Storms cause extensive destructive consequences on archaeology. New revelations can both open up new possibilities for research but also reverse previous work.