HydroConnect

HydroConnect is investigating how subterranean aquifers—geological formations composed of permeable rock capable of storing and transmitting freshwater—were essential to long-distance voyaging, settlement, and social connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. It further analyzes how Indigenous knowledge ensured continuous access to these freshwater sources, thereby facilitating large-scale migration and enabling long-term occupation even during periods of significant sea-level change.

The project dismantles the traditional boundaries separating the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences by integrating anthropology, archaeology, and geohydrology. By focusing on coastal seeps, HydroConnect draws on heterogeneous forms of evidence – integrating material, ecological, geological, and ethnographic data from land, islands, and marine environments. This integrative disciplinary and methodological approach yields a nuanced anthropological understanding of lifeworlds situated at the brink of disappearance due to accelerating economic pressures and climate-induced .