The Archaeology of Global Change The Impact of Humans on Their Environment

by Redman, Charles L.; James, Steven R.; Fish, Paul; Rogers, J. Daniel

• ISBN13: 9781588341723
• ISBN10: 1588341720
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-17
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books

Summary

Is humankind on a fast track to self-destruction? Can society develop ways to live in concert with the environment? Are our environmental problems as grave as they seem? The included essays address these issues and much more. International scientists offer empirical case studies of prehistoric human-ecosystem relationshipssome of short-term exploitation, others of long-term sustainabilityoffering lessons for today. Charles L. Redman introduces the trend to re-examine the environmental impacts of prehistoric peoples and the contexts of contemporary decision-making about natural resources.

Author Biography

Charles L. Redman is director of the Center for Environmental Studies at Arizona State University. Steven R. James is with the Cultural Heritage section of California State Parks. J. Daniel Rogers is a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
List of Tables	xi
Contributors	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction: Human Impacts on Past Environments	1	(8)
Charles L. Redman
Steven R. James
Paul R. Fish
J. Daniel Rogers
Part 1 Habitat Transformations and Animal Extinctions	9	(80)
Steven R. James
Oceanic Islands: Microcosms of ``Global Change''	13	(15)
Patrick V. Kirch
Hunting, Fishing, and Resource Depression in Prehistoric Southwest North America	28	(35)
Steven R. James
Revising the ``Wild'' West: Big Game Meets the Ultimate Keystone Species	63	(26)
Paul S. Martin
Christine R. Szuter
Part 2 Effects of Agriculture and Urban Society	89	(98)
Charles L. Redman
Late Holocene Environmental Change in West-Central Mexico: Evidence from the Basins of Patzcuaro and Zacapu	95	(17)
Sarah L. O'Hara
Sarah E. Metcalfe
The Archaeological Study of Environmental Degradation: An Example from Southeastern France	112	(18)
Sander E. Van Der Leeuw
Francois Favory
Jean-Jacques Girardot
Long-Term Vegetation Changes in the Near East	130	(11)
Naomi F. Miller
Environmental Impacts of the Rise of Civilization in the Southern Levant	141	(17)
Patricia L. Fall
Steven E. Falconer
Lee Lines
Mary C. Metzger
Environmental Degradation and Early Mesopotamian Civilization	158	(7)
Charles L. Redman
A Landscape Analysis of Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages	165	(22)
Joel Gunn
Carole L. Crumley
Elizabeth Jones
Bailey K. Young
Part 3 Case Study: Climate and Agriculture in the ``Fragile'' Southwest	187	(56)
Paul R. Fish
Suzanne K. Fish
Anthropogenic Environmental Change in the Southwest as Viewed from the Colorado Plateau	191	(17)
Jeffrey S. Dean
Unsuspected Magnitudes: Expanding the Scale of Hohokam Agriculture	208	(16)
Suzanne K. Fish
Paul R. Fish
Pre-Hispanic Human Impact on Upland North American Southwestern Environments: Evolutionary Ecological Perspectives	224	(19)
Timothy A. Kohler
Part 4 A View from the Past	243	(42)
J. Daniel Rogers
Extinction Isn't Always Forever: Biodiversity and Prehistory	249	(8)
Paul E. Minnis
Population and Resources in Prehistory	257	(14)
Timothy A. Kohler
The Global Environmental Crisis: An Archaeological Agenda for the 21st Century	271	(7)
J. Daniel Rogers
The Challenge of Scalability	278	(7)
Emilio F. Moran
Epilogue: Making Our Mark	285	(2)
Patty Jo Watson
Index	287