Marcy Rockman
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liftingrocks.bsky.social
Marcy Rockman
@liftingrocks.bsky.social
410 followers 240 following 110 posts
Archaeologist working on climate change, heritage, policy, and the deep time of how we live in this world.

Visiting Researcher, Linnaeus University, Sweden | Assoc. Research Prof., University of Maryland, CP | former Fed | liftingrocks.org
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liftingrocks.bsky.social
❤️ Safe home Dr. Goodall. Your beautiful work has touched us all.

(photo by Hugo van Lawick, via the BBC)
A young white woman wearing a khaki shirt and shorts with blond hair in a pony tail is kneeling and reaching out her right hand toward a young chimpanzee who is reaching toward her hand with his right hand. The chimp has dark brown-black fur and is little, standing just about as tall as the woman's knee. Green leaves line the forest floor between them and some additional trees are visible though blurry behind them.
October 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
This is also my concern for tipping points - the social ones that are held off, which pushes us over the physical ones.
www.carbonbrief.org/experts-whic...
Kate RaworthKate Raworth: Senior visiting research associate and lecturer at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute and co-founder and conceptual lead of Doughnut Economics Action Lab The tipping point that I fear we will fail to cross is [the social tipping point] around transforming our mindsets. We need to move from the extractive, degenerative economy towards a regenerative one. This all starts within our head and it underlies everything. [A failure to do this] is what is driving us towards all these [Earth system tipping points].
July 10, 2025 at 8:44 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
DOJ opinion from May 27 sets a foundation for undoing protections of the 1906 Antiquities Act, potentially very broadly. This is not good news for public lands, and cultural and natural heritage, Tribal places, and marine areas now held as national monuments.

www.justice.gov/olc/media/14...
For the reasons discussed above, we conclude that the Antiquities Act permits the President to alter a prior declaration of a national monument, including by finding that the “landmarks,” “structures,” or “objects” identified in the prior declaration either never were or no longer are deserving of the Act’s protections. 54 U.S.C. § 320301(a). Because Con-gress directed that the “parcels of land” reserved in connection with such a monument be “confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected,” id. § 320301(b), this can have the effect of eliminating entirely the parcel previously associated with a national monument. Castle Pinckney’s contrary conclusion was wrong, and it can no longer be relied upon.
June 11, 2025 at 1:12 AM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Saw this today and it resonated: firing of federal scientists, cutting off research, loss of heritage to climate impacts, banning of words, silencing of stories
Drawing of a white man in a gray suit standing at the top of a brown dirt cliff who has just thrown a coiled up rope to a man in the water below who has his arms up, waving for help. The man on the cliff isn't holding on to any part of the rope, so the man in the water will be receiving a lump wet rope attached to nothing. Words in the gray sky above the cliff say "Knowledge is Useless if We Don't Know How to Use It." source: https://joshuto.substack.com/p/the-greatest-challange-the-golden?r=1gxdhi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
May 23, 2025 at 12:31 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
The federal eraser has changed

"why our resources are valued by many diverse groups"

to

"why our resources are valued by many groups"

in the 2014 NPS policy memorandum for climate change and cultural resources. Rest of its content appears intact. May it stay -

www.nps.gov/subjects/pol...
Blue and white logo of the Department of the Interior in upper lefthand corner Centered in faded blue is the heading: United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service/1849 C Street, N.W./Washington, D.C. 20240 In black text: below [As amended by Memorandum dated March 3, 2025] FEB 10 2014 Policy Memorandum 14-02 To: All Employees From: Director (handwritten) Jonathan Jarvis Subject: Climate Change and Stewardship of Cultural Resources D. Consult Broadly: Consultation to inform the assessment of resource significance must engage a broad array of stakeholders. This will ensure that our actions are based upon thorough, up-to-date understandings of how and why our resources are valued by many groups, including Native Americans and other traditionally associated people, visitors, and the scientific community. It is critical that we engage with all stakeholders to identify their important stories...
April 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Injustice of climate change has many forms and levels. Here @frediotto.bsky.social captures one of its sources-

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
But injustice is also apparent on a global scale. Climate science is a field dominated by white men, most with backgrounds in the natural sciences, who mainly conduct and lead studies focused on the physical aspects of the climate while disregarding numerous other issues. This is why far too few studies deal with the global interactions between social and physical changes in an evolving climate.
April 20, 2025 at 1:02 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
I was so proud when this article was published a year ago- it's an evidence base for how to build stronger connections between federal work on heritage and on climate. Huge holes in both of these now. Strengthening these links must be on our list for rebuilding.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Black text on white background, with hyperlinks in blue: RESEARCH ARTICLE | SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE |FREE ACCESS Capacity of the U.S. federal system for cultural heritage to meet challenges of climate change Marcy Rockman https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3831-4788 mrockman@umd.eduAuthors Info & Affiliations Edited by William Clark, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; received October 3, 2023; accepted February 16, 2024 March 25, 2024 121 (15) e2317158121 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317158121
March 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Senate roll call vote taken on Tues. removing the rule set up by BOEM to better protect underwater archaeology during oil and gas development. Object lesson in how to endanger both the future and the past at the same time. #ClimateHeritage

www.senate.gov/legislative/...
Black text on white background: Measure Title: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management relating to "Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources". Vote Counts: YEAs54 NAYs44 Not Voting2
February 28, 2025 at 11:37 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Someone has made a Project 2025 tracker. There's so much to fight now and prepare for. Sharing this grab for archaeology, heritage, and conservation colleagues - we have work to do

www.project2025.observer
Two horizontally arranged boxes, both with black text on a white background. Left box says Interior (Not Started) Dept. of the Interior Repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906. environment View Sources Right box says Interior (Not Started) Dept. of the Interior Downsize national monuments. environment View Sources
February 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Senator John Kennedy (R–LA) has introduced a resolution to reverse a rule on the Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) adopted in September 2024. It requires oil companies to survey the ocean floor for shipwrecks or other cultural remains before drilling or laying pipelines, something offshore wind facilities were already required to do.
February 15, 2025 at 5:25 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Spotted this in the middle of @carbonbrief.org's summary yesterday of China's green bond debut - China is taking note of millennia-long patterns of rainfall and political upheaval. As an archaeologist, I'm glad to see consideration of these data.

#ClimateHeritage www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
Elsewhere, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that Chinese researchers have found a link between climate change and the “downfall of some of the most powerful Chinese imperial dynasties” by using “tree rings to track rainfall patterns on the Tibetan Plateau”.
February 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Reposting with news of a matching grant that has been set up to help fund recovery of cremains from homes destroyed in the LA fires. Link to the matching fund page is here: pge.yourcause.com/public?fbcli...

#LAFires
Support ALTA Heritage Foundation’s Fire Recovery Efforts Jennifer Darcangelo has generously set up a dollar-for-dollar matching grant fundraiser through the PG&E website to support ALTA Heritage Foundation. Our goal is to raise $100,000 to aid fire recovery efforts in Southern California. ALTA Heritage Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families recover the cremated remains of their loved ones lost in wildfires. Our team of volunteer archaeologists and forensic canine units specializes in locating and recovering ashes that were kept in urns or other vessels within homes destroyed by fire. Through our work, we bring solace and closure to families by reuniting them with the remains of their loved ones. In the aftermath of devastating wildfires, our efforts provide a vital service to those facing unimaginable loss, offering comfort, dignity, and a sense of peace during the recovery process. Our service is completely free. We rely on donations to support this volunteer effort. Donating is an impactful way to support our work. Every dollar you donate will be matched, doubling your contribution toward supporting recovery efforts. Please use the link below to make a donation and help us reach our goal: Donate Here Thank you for your support!
January 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Reposting with a statement from one of the archaeologists leading the cremains recovery work, Mike Newland. They're preparing to deploy to the Los Angeles area now.

Direct contact for the Alta Heritage Foundation, which does this work, is here: altahf.org
Thank you, Marcy! We are deploying to the Southern California fires in two weeks. After several years of knocking on doors, Alex and I have made headway with CalOES and they are working with us to notify property owners of our services. At the risk of co-opting your post, we need some help from your readers. We need four things: 1) Volunteers—specifically, those local to Southern California that can commute to help with the cremains recoveries; 2) Tyvek – we are going to need hundreds of Tyvek suits to supply both archaeologists and dog handlers; 3) Institutional support-- this could be GPS equipment, supplies, supporting staff financially to volunteer, food, and lodging; and 4) Financial support—we will need to pay for lodging, food, mileage, and equipment. We run entirely on donations, there’s no overhead or wages, 100% of all funds go directly into field support. Please help if you can, we’re going to have to move quickly. People can DM me and I can get them hooked up. Donations can be made here: https://altahf.org/make-a-donation.
January 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
The Society for Historical Archaeology's Micro-Climate Blog is back for 2025- bringing a small piece of a larger view of how we're living in our changing world. Today's post looks at how archaeologists are helping in recovery from climate-accelerated fires. #ClimateHeritage

sha.org/look-for-the...
Two white adult men wearing white protective coveralls, white face masks, and baseball caps are kneeling in front of three brick steps that covered with burned debris and are sifting through the ash with trowels and a dustpan.
January 28, 2025 at 3:05 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Have been reading this today- #IAmStillIn
Book cover with white text on black background: "Landing the Paris Climate Agreement, How It Happened, Why It Matters, and What Comes Next" which is above a multi-colored photo of people in suits hunched around a rectangular table with microphones. Below is more white text on a black background: Todd Stern, Former Special Envoy for Climate Change. At the bottom: "A must-read" - Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State.
January 21, 2025 at 1:18 AM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Jan. 23 is World Endangered Writing Day. Writing systems hold many ways of seeing and being in the world. "We" in the quote below is those who write primarily in the Latin alphabet, which= me, so I'll be finding ways to observe and learn.

#ClimateHeritage

www.endangeredwriting.world
January 20, 2025 at 2:56 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social


Thoughtful piece from @koslov.bsky.social. The LA fires are our newest reminder of the need to learn other ways to live in the world, that retreating individually and as we have been doing (esp. from flooding) will not bring safety.

#LandscapeLearning

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/19/o...
This future is not inevitable. With mansions, apartments, mobile homes and middle-class houses from Malibu to Altadena now reduced to cinders, we all must learn to live with fire. It is our shared responsibility to fight for policies and aid that will meaningfully support devastated communities, rather than imagining that we can retreat our way out to safety.
January 19, 2025 at 3:06 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
If you've lost your home in a wildfire and it held cremains that you weren't able to take with you- contact Alta Heritage Foundation. They're archaeologists who have developed methods of recovering cremains from ashes of homes. Non-profit, at no cost.

#PalisadesFire
#EatonFire
#AltadenaFire
January 13, 2025 at 2:05 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Led a training yesterday for historical archaeologists in how to talk to Congress about climate change. This will be more fraught than ever in what’s coming- which is why we’re doing this.

#ClimateHeritage
#SocietyforHistoricalArchaeology
Folded white piece of paper with black text held in a black wire stand.
January 11, 2025 at 3:18 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
It’s difficult for the present to learn from the past if we continue to use only a western frame that separates culture from nature, things that are measurable from what brings us meaning- Dr. Isabel Rivera-Collazo

#ClimateHeritage
PowerPoint slide of black test on a white background with blue top and bottom borders
January 10, 2025 at 3:57 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Where do underwater archaeology and fossil fuels overlap?- potentially polluting shipwrecks. Sunk tankers, ships of war, and more, are not secure storage for the millions of gallons of fuel they hold

#ClimateHeritage
January 10, 2025 at 3:19 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
More on climate and heritage happening at 2025 Society for Historical Archaeology- this morning bridging divides between nature and culture, land and sea, climate and pollution

#ClimateHeritage
Image is a title slide with a medium blue background and white text. Logos of the Ocean Foundation, Society for Historical Archaeology conference on a light gray background are in a column on the right.
January 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Also happened today at the 2025 Society for Historical Archaeology conference - a panel on heritage legislation for our time. Nearly all US legislation for heritage was passed before major recognition of climate change - so what do we need and want to bring it up to date?

#ClimateHeritage
Upper part of the image is a wide landscape shot of the east side of the US Capitol building; on the left is a gray stone paved plaza, the Capitol building is to the right in light tan stone. Dark green tree leaves frame the image to the left, and an ominous gray cloudy sky hovers across the top of the photo. Image is a timeline of major pieces of US legislation. On the upper part of the graph is legislation for archaeology and heritage shown in black and international conventions and events shown in blue and red. Below the timeline line, all in black, are events and US legislation regarding climate change. Red brackets above the heritage legislation titles show that each were passed at a tempo of about every 30 years; a green 2025 points out that we are now 35 years past the most recent major piece.
January 10, 2025 at 4:28 AM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Happening now at the 2025 Society for Historical Archaeology conference- gathering people and methods that are working with communities with heritage at risk from climate impacts. First of many sessions on this today-

#ClimateHeritage
January 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
liftingrocks.bsky.social
Watching holiday movie #RedOne, as a climate-heritage person, I'm intrigued by MORA- the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority. Well-funded, effective, connected across local and international levels- I can dream, right?
December 26, 2024 at 4:26 PM