People as an Agent of Environmental ChangeRebecca A. Nicholson The papers in this volume revisit one of the concerns which dominated environmental archaeology through the 1960s and 1970s, namely the timing, nature and extent of human impact on the environment. The thirteen contributions reflect the diversity of approaches and ideas today and show how our understanding of the place of people in ecosystems is now more subtle. There are papers on palynological evidence from the Strymon Delta in Macedonia; prehistoric copper mining at Mount Gabriel, Ireland; fungal spores as anthropogenic indicators on Shetland; prehistoric human impact on the prehistoric environments of Orkney, North York Moors and the Mid-Devon landscape; mites as indicators of human impact in the Netherlands; the disappearance of Elmid `Riffle Beetles' from lowland river systems in Britain; and case studies from further afield: palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Central Mexican Highlands; food plant availability in the Murchison Basin, Western Australia, prior to European arrival and Paleoindian expansion into South America. |
Contents
Problems in Proving the Links in Proxy Records | 1 |
Palaeoecological Evidence from Mount Gabriel | 19 |
A Preliminary Investigation into the Use of Fungal Spores as Anthropogenic Indicators on Shetland | 30 |
Copyright | |
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Aboriginal activity agricultural Alnus analysis arboreal pollen assemblage Atherden Betula Bindon Bronze Age Butzer cal BP calibrated Calluna catchment charcoal climatic change Clovis comm core Corylus Cribb cultural Cyperaceae delta deposits eaten raw ecological edible elmid environment environmental Ericaceae erosion evidence excavation exploitation extinction Fen Bogs Figure Fraxinus fungal spores Hemington Holocene humified peat indicated Iron Age island Khrysoupolis lake land landscape Latz Leyland pers LPAZ Macklin macrofossil Mexico mining mire surface mites Moss Mount Gabriel Mullewa Murchison Basin Myotragus Neolithic North York Moors Nymet Barton O'Hara Orkney Oxbow palaeoecological Patzcuaro peat period phase Pinus plant Poaceae pollen diagrams pollen record prehistoric Prolagus Quaternary Quercus radiocarbon dates region roasted samples sediment seeds settlement Skara Brae soil species Sphagnum Sphagnum imbricatum Sphagnum section stratigraphy Strymon suggests taxa trees undiff vegetational history Veth Western Australia wood Yamaji zone