Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions

Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions
Author: Pam Dickinson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2009-03-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1443809136

Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions demonstrates the high quality of work presented at the first Developing International Geoarchaeology conference (DIG 2005), held in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and exemplifies the over-riding theme of this discipline. People have always used the landscape in many ways: as a place to live, as a place to grow crops, as a source of natural resources. Those actions leave their traces. The characteristics of the landscape constrain which activities are possible, just as social and cultural habits condition people’s connection with the environment. Geoarchaeology is about finding the traces of these interactions, and using them to reconstruct how people in the past behaved in their environmental context. The material covered in the proceedings ranges from broad themes of climate change and landscape use, to more specific subjects such as river avulsion and the use of tidal ponds. The papers move us from the land to the coastal margin and back onto land to examine particular techniques. The final paper leads us beyond archaeology and points out that geoarchaeological data must contribute to the debate about the sustainability of present-day land-use practices: a fitting challenge to take us into the future.

Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions - Volume 1

Reconstructing Human-Landscape Interactions - Volume 1
Author: Brett T. McLaurin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 63
Release: 2012-01-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642237592

The Holocene is unique when compared to earlier geological time in that humans begin to alter and manipulate the natural environment to their own needs. Domestication of crops and animals and the resultant intensification of agriculture lead to profound changes in the impact humans have on the environment. Conversely, as human populations began to increase geologic and climatic factors begin to have a greater impact on civilizations. To understand and reconstruct the complex interplay between humans and the environment over the past ten thousand years requires examination of multiple differing but interconnected aspects of the environment and involves geomorphology, paleoecology, geoarchaeology and paleoclimatology. These Springer Briefs volumes examine the dynamic interplay between humans and the natural environment as reconstructed by the many and varied sub-fields of the Earth Sciences.

Human Interactions with the Geosphere

Human Interactions with the Geosphere
Author: Lucy Wilson
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2011
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781862393257

Human impact on our environment is not a new phenomenon. For millennia, humans have been coping with - or provoking - environmental change. We have exploited, extracted, over-used, but also in many cases nurtured, the resources that the geosphere offers. Geoarchaeology studies the traces of human interactions with the geosphere and provides the key to recognizing landscape and environmental change, human impacts and the effects of environmental change on human societies. This collection of papers from around the world includes case studies and broader reviews covering the time period since before modern human beings came into existence up until the present day. To understand ourselves, we need to understand that our world is constantly changing, and that change is dynamic and complex. Geoarchaeology provides an inclusive and long-term view of human-geosphere interactions and serves as a valuable aid to those who try to determine sustainable policies for the future.

Human Environment Interactions - Volume 2

Human Environment Interactions - Volume 2
Author: Michelle Goman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2013-11-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642368808

The Holocene is unique when compared to earlier geological time in that humans begin to alter and manipulate the natural environment to their own needs. Domestication of crops and animals and the resultant intensification of agriculture lead to profound changes in the impact humans have on the environment. Conversely, as human populations began to increase geologic and climatic factors begin to have a greater impact on civilizations. To understand and reconstruct the complex interplay between humans and the environment over the past ten thousand years requires examination of multiple differing but interconnected aspects of the environment and involves geomorphology, paleoecology, geoarchaeology and paleoclimatology. These Springer Briefs volumes examine the dynamic interplay between humans and the natural environment as reconstructed by the many and varied sub-fields of the Earth Sciences.

Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology

Environmental Reconstruction in Mediterranean Landscape Archaeology
Author: Philippe Leveau
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2016-10-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785704311

Contents include: Introduction ( K Walsh ); Palynology ( S Bottema ); A database for the palynological recording of human activity ( V Andrieu, E Brugiapaglia, R Cheddadi, M Reille and J-L de Beaulieu ); The contribution of anthracology ( J-L Vernet ); Dendroclimatology ( F Guibal ); Techniques in Landscape Archaeology ( A G Brown ); L'apport de la micromorphologie des sols ( N Fédoroff ); Reconstructing past soil environments ( R S Shiel ); The Geochemistry of Soil Sediments ( D D Gilbertson and J P Grattam ); Searching the Ports of Troy ( E Zanagger, M Timpson, S Yazvenko and H Leiermann ); The pontine region in central Italy ( P Attema, J Delvigne and B J Haagsma ); Population pressure on agricultural resources in Karstic landscapes ( P Novacovic, H Simoni and B Music ); La Pianura padana centrale tra il Bronzo Medio ed il Bronzo finale ( M Cremaschi ); The ancient ports of Marseille and Fos, Provence, southern France ( C Vella, C Morhange and M Provansal ); The evolution of field systems in the middle Rhône valley ( J-F Berger and C Jung ); La línea de Costa en época histórica en el Golfo de Valencia ( P Carmona ); The Vallée des Baux, Southern France ( P Leveau ); The étang de Berre, southern France ( F Trément ); Geoarchaeology in mediterranean landscape archaeology ( G Barker and J Bintliff ).

Reconstructing Past Population Trends in Mediterranean Europe (3000 BC - AD 1800)

Reconstructing Past Population Trends in Mediterranean Europe (3000 BC - AD 1800)
Author: John Bintliff
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2016-10-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785704737

Archaeology of Populus Monograph in Archaeology of Mediterranean Landscapes Series. Population trends and demographics in general are discussed through a variety of case studies based in Mediterranean Europe. The range of archaeological techniques and methods of analysis includes regional field surveys, artifact scatter analysis, palaeoanthropology, historical and documentary sources, and studies of cemeteries.

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology
Author: Christian Isendahl
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 732
Release: 2019-01-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0191653349

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology presents theoretical discussions, methodological outlines, and case-studies describing the field of overlap between historical ecology and the emerging sub-discipline of applied archaeology to highlight how modern environments and landscapes have been shaped by humans. Historical ecology is based on the recognition that humans are not only capable of modifying their environments, but that all environments on earth have already been directly or indirectly modified. This includes anthropogenic climate change, widespread deforestations, and species extinctions, but also very local alterations, the effects of which may last a few years, or may have legacies lasting centuries or more. With contributions from anthropologists, archaeologists, human geographers, and historians, this volume focuses not just on defining human impacts in the past, but on the ways that understanding these changes can help inform contemporary practices and development policies. Some chapters present examples of how ancient or current societies have modified their environments in sustainable ways, while others highlight practices that had unintended long-term consequences. The possibilities of learning from these practices are discussed, as is the potential of using the long history of human resource exploitation as a method for building or testing models of future change. The volume offers overviews for students, researchers, and professionals with an interest in conservation or development projects who want to understand what practical insights can be drawn from history, and who seek to apply their work to contemporary issues.

The Archaeology of Human-Environment Interactions

The Archaeology of Human-Environment Interactions
Author: Daniel Contreras
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317450620

The impacts of climate change on human societies, and the roles those societies themselves play in altering their environments, appear in headlines more and more as concern over modern global climate change intensifies. Increasingly, archaeologists and paleoenvironmental scientists are looking to evidence from the human past to shed light on the processes which link environmental and cultural change. Establishing clear contemporaneity and correlation, and then moving beyond correlation to causation, remains as much a theoretical task as a methodological one. This book addresses this challenge by exploring new approaches to human-environment dynamics and confronting the key task of constructing arguments that can link the two in concrete and detailed ways. The contributors include researchers working in a wide variety of regions and time periods, including Mesoamerica, Mongolia, East Africa, the Amazon Basin, and the Island Pacific, among others. Using methodological vignettes from their own research, the contributors explore diverse approaches to human-environment dynamics, illustrating the manifold nature of the subject and suggesting a wide variety of strategies for approaching it. This book will be of interest to researchers and scholars in Archaeology, Paleoenvironmental Science, Ecology, and Geology.