Modelling Human Environment Interactions In And Beyond Prehistoric Europe

Author : Samuel Seuru
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031343360
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modelling Human-Environment Interactions in and beyond Prehistoric Europe written by Samuel Seuru and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-07-25 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers insight into the relationship between prehistoric and protohistoric human populations and the world around them. It reconstructs key aspects of the palaeoenvironment – from large-scale drivers of environmental conditions, such as climate, to more regional variables such as vegetation cover and faunal communities. The volume underscores how computational archaeology is leading the way in the study of past human-environment interactions across spatial and chronological scales. With the increased availability of high-resolution climate models, agent-based modelling, palaeoecological proxies and the mature use of Geographic Information System in ecological modelling, archaeologists working in interdisciplinary settings are well-positioned to explore the intersection of human systems and environmental affordances and constraints. These methodological advancements provide a better understanding of the role humans played in past ecosystems – both in terms of their impact upon the environment and, in return, the impact of environmental conditions on human systems. They may also allow us to infer past ecological knowledge and land-use patterns that are historically contingent, rather than environmentally determined. This volume gathers contributions that combine reconstructions of past environments and archeological data with a view to exploring their complex interactions at different scales and invites scholars from varying disciplines and backgrounds to present and compare different modelling approaches.

Author : Daniel Contreras
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317450620
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Archaeology of Human-Environment Interactions written by Daniel Contreras and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-08-25 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Johannes Müller
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031533143
Total Pages : 379 pages
Book Rating : 4.43/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Perspectives on Socio-environmental Transformations in Ancient Europe written by Johannes Müller and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Elizabeth A. Scharf
Publisher : British Archaeological Reports Limited
ISBN 13 : 9781407305820
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Prehistoric Human-environment Interactions written by Elizabeth A. Scharf and published by British Archaeological Reports Limited. This book was released on 2009 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern ecological studies are unable to examine long-term processes operating on the order of hundreds of years. Because of the limited length of modern and historic records, questions about long-term interactions between people and the environment can only be answered using paleoecological and archaeological information. This volume presents prehistoric records that span over a millennium to examine issues of human paleoecology on the Columbia Plateau of Washington State, USA. Unlike many previous studies, this study (1) quantifies past human population, (2) compares relative inputs of humans, climate, fire, and vegetation using multivariate statistics, (3) examines relationships between variables when leads and lags of different lengths are introduced, and (4) identifies multicollinearity, allowing variables of no unique explanatory value to be eliminated. This study indicates that research on human impacts that focuses on bivariate patterns, such as simple comparisons of coeval human population and fire, can suffer from the problem of equifinality. The multivariate statistical procedures employed in this work avoid these problems, however, and can be used in any study that employs observations taken at equally-spaced time intervals. Additionally, the protocols developed and used in this volume can be easily adapted and applied in new geographical areas-the methods and research design used need not be tied to this particular location.

Author : Paul E. Minnis
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226530248
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Adaptation to Food Stress written by Paul E. Minnis and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1985-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining anthropology, archeology, and evolutionary theory, Paul E. Minnis develops a model of how tribal societies deal with severe food shortages. While focusing on the prehistory of the Rio Mimbres region of New Mexico, he provides comparative data from the Fringe Enga of New Guinea, the Tikopia of Tikopia Island, and the Gwembe Tonga of South Africa. Minnis proposes that, faced with the threat of food shortages, nonstratified societies survive by employing a series of responses that are increasingly effective but also are increasingly costly and demand increasingly larger cooperative efforts. The model Minnis develops allows him to infer, from evidence of such factors as population size, resource productivity, and climate change, the occurrence of food crises in the past. Using the Classic Mimbres society as a test case, he summarizes the regional archeological sequence and analyzes the effects of environmental fluctuations on economic and social organization. He concludes that the responses of the Mimbres people to their burgeoning population were inadequate to prevent the collapse of the society in the late twelfth century. In its illumination of the general issue of responses to food shortages, Social Adaptation to Food Stress will interest not only archeologists but also those concerned with current food shortages in the Third World. Cultural ecologists and human geographers will be able to derive a wealth of ideas, methods, and data from Minnis's work.

Author : Attila Gyucha
Publisher : Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN 13 : 1950446212
Total Pages : 450 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bikeri written by Attila Gyucha and published by Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition from the Neolithic period to the Copper Age in the northern Balkans and the Carpathian Basin was marked by significant changes in material culture, settlement layout and organization, and mortuary practices that indicate fundamental social transformations in the middle of the fifth millennium BC. Prior research into the Late Neolithic of the region focused almost exclusively on fortified 'tell' settlements. The Early Copper Age, by contrast, was known primarily from cemeteries such as the type site of Tiszapolgar-Basatanya. This edited book describes the multi-disciplinary research conducted by the Koros Regional Archaeological Project in southeastern Hungary from 2000-2007. Centered around two Early Copper Age Tiszapolgar culture villages in the Koros Region of the Great Hungarian Plain, Veszto-Bikeri and Korosladany-Bikeri, our research incorporated excavation, surface collection, geophysical survey and soil chemistry to investigate settlement layout and organization. Our results yielded the first extensive, systematically collected datasets from Early Copper Age settlements on the Great Hungarian Plain. The two adjacent villages at Bikeri, located only 70 m apart, were similar in size, and both were protected with fortifications. Relative and absolute dates demonstrate that they were occupied sequentially during the Early Copper Age, from ca. 4600-4200 cal B.C. The excavated assemblages from the sites are strikingly similar, suggesting that both were occupied by the same community. This process of settlement relocation after only a few generations breaks from the longer-lasting settlement pattern that are typical of the Late Neolithic, but other aspects of the villages continue traditions that were established during the preceding period, including the construction of enclosure systems and longhouses.

Author : Keith Ashley
Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813043581
Total Pages : 413 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Late Prehistoric Florida written by Keith Ashley and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2012-07-15 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prehistoric Florida societies, particularly those of the peninsula, have been largely ignored or given only minor consideration in overviews of the Mississippian southeast (A.D. 1000-1600). This groundbreaking volume lifts the veil of uniformity frequently draped over these regions in the literature, providing the first comprehensive examination of Mississippi-period archaeology in the state. Featuring contributions from some of the most prominent researchers in the field, this collection describes and synthesizes the latest data from excavations throughout Florida. In doing so, it reveals a diverse and vibrant collection of cleared-field maize farmers, part-time gardeners, hunter-gatherers, and coastal and riverine fisher/shellfish collectors who formed a distinctive part of the Mississipian southeast.

Author : Tina L. Thurston
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 0306463202
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Landscapes of Power, Landscapes of Conflict written by Tina L. Thurston and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2001-06-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an attempt to blend traditional empirical, objective archaeological analysis with the study of changing patterns of landscapes and, through them, people and places and the relationships between them. The author focuses on late Iron Age southern Scandinavia through to early medieval polity of Denmark, a time of regional transformation from many autonomous, complex, middle-range societies into a unified, centralized state.

Author : Salvador Pardo-Gordó
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030836436
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Simulating Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory written by Salvador Pardo-Gordó and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-24 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book highlights new and innovative approaches to archaeological research using computational modeling while focusing on the Neolithic transition around the world. The transformative effect of the spread and adoption of agriculture in prehistory cannot be overstated. Consequently, archaeologists have often focused their research on this transition, hoping to understand both the ecological causes and impacts of this shift, as well as the social motivations and constraints involved. Given the complex interplay of socio-ecological factors, the answers to these types of questions cannot be found using traditional archaeological methods alone. Computational modeling techniques have emerged as an effective approach for better understanding prehistoric data sets and the linkages between social and ecological factors at play during periods of subsistence change. Such techniques include agent-based modeling, Bayesian modeling, GIS modeling of the prehistoric environment, and the modeling of small-scale agriculture. As more archaeological data sets aggregate regarding the transition to agriculture, researchers are often left with few ways to relate these sets to one another. Computational modeling techniques such as those described above represent a critical next step in providing archaeological analyses that are important for understanding human prehistory around the world. Given its scope, this book will appeal to the many interdisciplinary scientists and researchers whose work involves archaeology and computational social science. Chapter “The Spread of Agriculture: Quantitative Laws in Prehistory?” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via springer.com.

Author : Michael J Balick
Publisher : Garland Science
ISBN 13 : 1000098486
Total Pages : 487 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Plants, People, and Culture written by Michael J Balick and published by Garland Science. This book was released on 2020-08-19 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is it possible that plants have shaped the very trajectory of human cultures? Using riveting stories of fieldwork in remote villages, two of the world’s leading ethnobotanists argue that our past and our future are deeply intertwined with plants. Creating massive sea craft from plants, indigenous shipwrights spurred the navigation of the world’s oceans. Today, indigenous agricultural innovations continue to feed, clothe, and heal the world’s population. One out of four prescription drugs, for example, were discovered from plants used by traditional healers. Objects as common as baskets for winnowing or wooden boxes to store feathers were ornamented with traditional designs demonstrating the human ability to understand our environment and to perceive the cosmos. Throughout the world, the human body has been used as the ultimate canvas for plant-based adornment as well as indelible design using tattoo inks. Plants also garnered religious significance, both as offerings to the gods and as a doorway into the other world. Indigenous claims that plants themselves are sacred is leading to a startling reformulation of conservation. The authors argue that conservation goals can best be achieved by learning from, rather than opposing, indigenous peoples and their beliefs. KEY FEATURES • An engrossing narrative that invites the reader to personally engage with the relationship between plants, people, and culture • Full-color illustrations throughout—including many original photographs captured by the authors during fieldwork • New to this edition—"Plants That Harm," a chapter that examines the dangers of poisonous plants and the promise that their study holds for novel treatments for some of our most serious diseases, including Alzheimer’s and substance addiction • Additional readings at the end of each chapter to encourage further exploration • Boxed features on selected topics that offer further insight • Provocative questions to facilitate group discussion Designed for the college classroom as well as for lay readers, this update of Plants, People, and Culture entices the reader with firsthand stories of fieldwork, spectacular illustrations, and a deep respect for both indigenous peoples and the earth’s natural heritage.