The impact of changing climate on terrestrial and underwater archaeological sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes can be examined through quantitatively-based analyses encompassing large data samples and broad geographic and temporal scales. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) is a multi-institutional collaboration that allows researchers online access to linked heritage data from multiple sources and data sets. The effects of sea-level rise and concomitant human population relocation is examined using a sample from nine states encompassing much of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. A 1 m rise in sea-level will result in the loss of over >13,000 recorded historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, as well as over 1000 locations currently eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), encompassing archaeological sites, standing structures, and other cultural properties. These numbers increase substantially with each additional 1 m rise in sea level, with >32,000 archaeological sites and >2400 NRHP properties lost should a 5 m rise occur. Many more unrecorded archaeological and historic sites will also be lost as large areas of the landscape are flooded. The displacement of millions of people due to rising seas will cause additional impacts where these populations resettle. Sea level rise will thus result in the loss of much of the record of human habitation of the coastal margin in the Southeast within the next one to two centuries, and the numbers indicate the magnitude of the impact on the archaeological record globally. Construction of large linked data sets is essential to developing procedures for sampling, triage, and mitigation of these impacts.

Integrating data from different sources represents a tremendous research opportunity across the humanities, social, and natural sciences. However, repurposing data for uses not imagined or anticipated by their creators involves conceptual, methodological, and theoretical challenges. These are acute in archaeology, a discipline that straddles the humanities and sciences. Heritage protection laws shape archaeological practice and generate large bodies of data, largely untapped for research or other purposes. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) project adapts heritage management data sets for broader open and public uses. DINAA’s initial goal is to integrate government-curated public data from off-line and online digital repositories, from up to twenty US states, and which qualitatively and quantitatively describe over 500,000 archaeological sites in eastern North America. DINAA hopes to promote extension and reuse by government personnel, as well as by domestic and international researchers interested in the cultures, histories, artifacts, and behaviors described within these public data sets. DINAA innovatively applies methodologies and workflows typical of many ‘open science’ and digital humanities programs to these data sets. The distributed nature of data production, coupled with protections for sensitive data, add layers of complexity. Ethically negotiating these issues can wider the collaboration between stakeholder communities, and offer an unprecedented new view on human use of the North American landscape across vast regions and time scales. ................................................................................................................................................................................. Correspondence: