Our Flag Expedition Award #109 from the Explorers Club, NYC

Art/Archaeology in the Outer Hebrides:
Implications for Loss of Coastal Heritage Worldwide

~Relational Aesthetics and Art as Social Practice~

Double Diamond Archaeology™  was awarded the prestigious Explorers Club Expedition Flag #109 for two field seasons to the Isles of North Uist and Vallay, located in the Scottish Outer Hebrides.  Our Art/Archaeology research focuses on the relationship between Art and Archaeology and in its broadest sense, the visual interpretation of cultural heritage. We conducted field research on 18 of the original 225 archaeology sites first  discovered by 19th century archaeologist,  Erskine Beveridge, on the Isle of Vallay, Scotland, and reported the impact of climate change upon them.

We  extended our survey to 18 additional Beveridge sites on the NW Coast of North Uist, located directly across the Strand from the Isle of Vallay. Our  research objective is to record the critical loss of Coastal Heritage due to climate change - the increasing severity of storms, rising sea levels, and subsequent erosion of archaeological evidence there. This Art/Archaeology project has implications for the loss of coastal heritage worldwide.

We  published our findings from both seasons in two books and in multiple Art and Archaeology venues, We curated two Landscape and Culture Art exhibits: Chashama Space in Chelsea and The Explorers Club in New York City, and presented a Pecha Kucha Talk at Site Santa Fe.  Our documents are included in The Nevada Museum of Art - Institute for Art + The Environment, Rutgers University, and The Explorers Club archives. We have added our field reports to several official Scottish databases: SCHARP (Scottish Coastal Heritage at Risk), SCAPE  (Scottish Coastal Archaeology & The Problem of Erosion), and Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist Museum and Art Center.

We are grateful for the support of our many friends and sponsors including the The Explorers Club, The North Face, Scotland CityLink Buses and

Caledonian MacBrayne Hebridean Ferries.

June Julian

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