[PDF] Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction In Eastern North America eBook

Author : Paul A. Delcourt
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 20,71 MB
Release : 2004-07-29
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0521662702

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This book shows that Holocene human ecosystems are complex adaptive systems in which humans interacted with their environment in a nested series of spatial and temporal scales. Using panarchy theory, it integrates paleoecological and archaeological research from the Eastern Woodlands of North America providing a paradigm to help resolve long-standing disagreements between ecologists and archaeologists about the importance of prehistoric Native Americans as agents for ecological change. The authors present the concept of a panarchy of complex adaptive cycles as applied to the development of increasingly complex human ecosystems through time. They explore examples of ecological interactions at the level of gene, population, community, landscape and regional hierarchical scales, emphasizing the ecological pattern and process involving the development of human ecosystems. Finally, they offer a perspective on the implications of the legacy of Native Americans as agents of change for conservation and ecological restoration efforts today.

Author : Paul E. Minnis
Publisher : Smithsonian Inst Scholarly Press
Page : 423 pages
File Size : 13,84 MB
Release : 2003
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781588341334

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presents the latest information on the use of native plants, the history of crops and their uses, and the impact of humans on their environment. It not only contributes to our understanding of the lives of prehistoric people, it serves as a guide for designing environmentally sustainable lives today.

Author : Paul E. Minnis
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 26,19 MB
Release : 2004
Category : History
ISBN : 9780816529124

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The environmental diversity of North America is astounding—from circumpolar tundra with a small number of plants more than a few centimeters tall to the lush semitropical forests of the southeastern United States and the Caribbean Basin. No less remarkable is the record of plant usage by the various indigenous peoples who have been living here for more than 12,000 years. For the vast majority of this time, their livelihood—food, shelter, fuel, and medicine—depended on their knowledge and use of the plants that surrounded them. The most comprehensive overview in more than half a century on the interconnectedness of people and plants, this book and its companion volume, People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America, present the latest information on three major topics: the uses of native plants, the history of crops and their uses, and the impact of humans on their environment. They not only contribute to our understanding of the lives of prehistoric people but also serve as guides for designing sustainable living today.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 31,37 MB
Release : 2010-04-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309148383

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The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species. Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.

Author :
Publisher :
Page : 92 pages
File Size : 15,79 MB
Release : 1997
Category : Biogeography
ISBN :

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This volume represents a first attempt at holistically classifying and mapping ecological regions across all three countries of the North American continent. A common analytical methodology is used to examine North American ecology at multiple scales, from large continental ecosystems to subdivisions of these that correlate more detailed physical and biological settings with human activities on two levels of successively smaller units. The volume begins with an overview of North America from an ecological perspective, concepts of ecological regionalization. This is followed by descriptions of the 15 broad ecological regions, including information on physical and biological setting and human activities. The final section presents case studies in applications of the ecological characterization methodology to environmental issues. The appendix includes a list of common and scientific names of selected species characteristic of the ecological regions.

Author : Michelle Chaput
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 14,57 MB
Release : 2018
Category :
ISBN :

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The assumption that prehistoric Native American land use practices had little impact on the North American landscape persists in the literature. However, recent research suggests the effects of prehistoric burning, deforestation and agriculture may potentially have been greater than previously considered. To resolve this discrepancy, quantitative estimates of changes in human population size and forest structure and composition over the course of the Holocene are needed. This thesis addresses this need by providing radiocarbon-based paleodemographic reconstructions and pollen-inferred estimates of vegetation change, as well as analyses of associations between the two at both continental and regional scales, from the late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene. One way to estimate paleodemographic change is to use the number of radiocarbon (14C) dates from a given area to study patterns of human occupation through time. A review of the literature and compilation of existing databases relevant to this method showed there is now sufficient data to study the paleodemographic history of many regions around the world. An analysis of 14C datasets from North America and Australia compared well with model-based reconstructions of past demographic growth, and provided higher frequency fluctuations in population densities that will be important for future research. Using a kernel density estimation approach, the first estimates of prehistoric population density for North America were obtained and synthesized into a series of continental-scale maps showing the distribution and frequency of 14C dates in the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database (CARD). The maps illustrated the space-time evolution of population and migration patterns, which were corroborated by independent sources of evidence. A methodology based on the statistical evaluation of cross-correlations between population and plant abundance was then developed to analyze the associations between these population estimates and plant communities derived from pollen databases. Periods of high spatial cross-correlation (positive and negative) between population and plant abundance were irregular and did not improve over time, suggesting that ancient human impacts are not discernable at a continental scale, either due to low populations or varying human land use practices. To further examine the relationship between pollen data and human land use at a regional scale, estimates of plant density and landscape openness are needed. The REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) model corrects for the non-linear relationship between pollen production and plant abundance and can therefore be used to map histories of land use and land cover change. The model was applied to pollen records from lake sediments in the deciduous forest of southeastern Quebec. A preliminary analysis comparing these results to population density revealed low population during times of high Populus abundance and high population following the appearance of the mixed temperate forest suggesting a discernable human-environment association at regional scales. Overall, the results of thesis support the growing body of literature that suggests prehistoric Native Americans impacted their environments and that these impacts can be detected and quantified by integrating archaeological and paleoecological information. However, the timing, location, and intensity of human land use has changed in both space and time, suggesting regional- to local-scale analyses of human-environment interactions are most appropriate for continental North America. The methodology presented here can be used to study additional North American regions for the purpose of developing a continental history of human-environment interaction.

Author : Diana Childress
Publisher : Chelsea House Publications
Page : 86 pages
File Size : 50,48 MB
Release : 1997
Category : History
ISBN : 9780791024812

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Describes how archaeologists have used a variety of methods to learn about the past and assemble a picture of prehistoric Native American life.