[PDF] Prehistoric Native Americans And Ecological Change eBook

Author : Paul A. Delcourt
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 217 pages
File Size : 37,97 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 : Shepard Krech
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 15,91 MB
Release : 1999
Category : History
ISBN : 9780393321005

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Krech (anthropology, Brown U.) treats such provocative issues as whether the Eden in which Native Americans are viewed as living prior to European contact was a feature of native environmentalism or simply low population density; indigenous use of fire; and the Indian role in near-extinctions of buffalo, deer, and beaver. He concludes that early Indians' culturally-mediated closeness with nature was not always congruent with modern conservation ideas, with implications for views of, and by, contemporary Indians. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Betty Meggers
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 319 pages
File Size : 31,16 MB
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 1351496980

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During the past 30 years, the relationship between humans and the environment has changed more drastically than during any previous period in human history. Local sustainable exploitation of natural resources has been overridden by global interests indifferent to the detrimental impact of their activities on local environments and their inhabitants. Increasingly efficient technology has reduced the need for human labor, but improved medical treatment favors reproduction and survival, creating a growing imbalance between population density and food supply. Rapid transportation is introducing alien species to distant terrestrial and aquatic environments, where they displace critical elements in the local food chain.This succinct and profusely illustrated volume applies evolutionary and cultural theory to the interpretation of prehistoric cultural development in the western hemisphere. After reviewing cultural development in Mesoamerica and the central Andes, Meggers examines adaptation in North and South American regions with similar environments to evaluate the influence of adaptive constraints on cultural content.What made the human species dominant on the planet is the substitution of cultural behavior for biological behavior. Prehistoric Americans applied this ability to develop sustainable relationships with their environments. Many succeeded and others did not. Paleoclimatic reconstructions can be compared with archeological sequences and ethnographic descriptions to identify cultural behavior responsible for the difference. Comparison of the responses of Amazonians and Mayans to episodes of severe drought provides useful insights into what we are doing wrong.

Author : Julie Koppel Maldonado
Publisher : Springer
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 27,72 MB
Release : 2014-04-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 3319052667

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With a long history and deep connection to the Earth’s resources, indigenous peoples have an intimate understanding and ability to observe the impacts linked to climate change. Traditional ecological knowledge and tribal experience play a key role in developing future scientific solutions for adaptation to the impacts. The book explores climate-related issues for indigenous communities in the United States, including loss of traditional knowledge, forests and ecosystems, food security and traditional foods, as well as water, Arctic sea ice loss, permafrost thaw and relocation. The book also highlights how tribal communities and programs are responding to the changing environments. Fifty authors from tribal communities, academia, government agencies and NGOs contributed to the book. Previously published in Climatic Change, Volume 120, Issue 3, 2013.

Author : Piotr Makowski
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 34,15 MB
Release : 2017-07-05
Category : History
ISBN : 1351496999

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During the past 30 years, the relationship between humans and the environment has changed more drastically than during any previous period in human history. Local sustainable exploitation of natural resources has been overridden by global interests indifferent to the detrimental impact of their activities on local environments and their inhabitants. Increasingly efficient technology has reduced the need for human labor, but improved medical treatment favors reproduction and survival, creating a growing imbalance between population density and food supply. Rapid transportation is introducing alien species to distant terrestrial and aquatic environments, where they displace critical elements in the local food chain.This succinct and profusely illustrated volume applies evolutionary and cultural theory to the interpretation of prehistoric cultural development in the western hemisphere. After reviewing cultural development in Mesoamerica and the central Andes, Meggers examines adaptation in North and South American regions with similar environments to evaluate the influence of adaptive constraints on cultural content.What made the human species dominant on the planet is the substitution of cultural behavior for biological behavior. Prehistoric Americans applied this ability to develop sustainable relationships with their environments. Many succeeded and others did not. Paleoclimatic reconstructions can be compared with archeological sequences and ethnographic descriptions to identify cultural behavior responsible for the difference. Comparison of the responses of Amazonians and Mayans to episodes of severe drought provides useful insights into what we are doing wrong.

Author : Victor D. Thompson
Publisher : University Press of Florida
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 47,79 MB
Release : 2019-03-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0813063914

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Most research into humans' impact on the environment has focused on large-scale societies; a corollary assumption has been that small scale economies are sustainable and in harmony with nature. The contributors to this volume challenge this notion, revealing how such communities shaped their environment—and not always in a positive way. Offering case studies from around the world—from Brazil to Japan, Denmark to the Rocky Mountains—the chapters empirically demonstrate the substantial transformations of the surrounding landscape made by hunter-gatherer and limited horticultural societies. Summarizing previous research as well as presenting new data, this book shows that the environmental impact and legacy of societies are not always proportional their size. Understanding that our species leaves a footprint wherever it has been leads to both a better understanding of our prehistoric past and to deeper implications for our future relationship to the world around us.

Author : Michelle Chaput
Publisher :
Page : pages
File Size : 31,54 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 : Paul E. Minnis
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 36,70 MB
Release : 2010
Category : History
ISBN : 9780816529131

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The environmental diversity of North America is astounding--from the circumpolar tundra with few plants more than a few centimeters tall to the lush, semitropical forests of the southeastern United States and Caribbean Basin. No less remarkable is the record of plants usage by the various indigenous people who have been living there for more than twelve millennia. For the vast majority of this time, their livelihood--food, shelter, fuel, and medicine--depended on their knowledge and use of the environment. The most comprehensive overview in more than half a century about the interconnectedness of prehistoric Native Americans and their botanical world, this book and its forthcoming companion volume, People and Plants in Ancient Western North America, present the latest information on three major topics: the use of native plants, the history of crops and their uses, and how humans affected their environment. In this volume, expert scholars summarize the prehistoric ethnobotany of four regions: the Eastern Woodlands (W. Cowan, K. Gremillion, M. Scarry, B. Smith, and G. Wagner), Northeast (G. Crawford and D. Smith), Plains (M. Adair), and Caribbean (L. Newsom and D. Pearsall). This volume contributes significantly to our understanding of the lives of prehistoric people as well as the forces that influenced their communities, their ingenuity, and their ecological impact. It also serves as a guide for designing environmentally sustainable lives today.

Author : H. Thomas Foster II
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 195 pages
File Size : 41,4 MB
Release : 2022-03-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1000545253

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This book is a synthesis of research spanning archaeology, geology, geography, history, ecology, and ethnography. It follows the history of the Apalachicola people who contributed to the culture that was later called the Creek Indians in the Southeastern United States. Apalachicola is the origin story of the Creek Indians and how they adapted to a changing environment and shows that specific institutions, subsistence strategies, and social organizations developed as a risk management strategy and a form of resilience. It is unique in its comprehensive and long-term study of a community. It identifies and demonstrates a new way of understanding the development of political institutions and regime change. Incorporating the role of social groups that are under discussed by archaeological studies, the book offers a new and novel understanding of the development of complex societies in the Southeastern United States. It also includes a holistic view of the entire social and economic organizations rather than just an aspect of the economy or politics and shows how this culture developed a society that dealt with an unpredictable environment by distributing risks, knowledge, and authority throughout the society. The social and political organization of these Native American peoples was adapted to a particular environment that was altered when Europeans immigrated to the Americas. The book is relevant to scholars interested in Southeastern North American archaeology and history, ecological resilience, political change, colonialism, gender studies, ecology, and more.