The end of the Pleistocene era brought dramatic environmental changes to small bands of humans living in North America: changes that affected subsistence, mobility, demography, technology, and socia
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 conserv
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 conserv
This report explores the potential for phytolith analysis using data collected through the isolation of silica phytoliths (plant microfossils) extracted from archaeological sediment collected at three
Lang Rongrien Rockshelter was the first site excavated in Thailand to produce a clearly stratified, charcoal-dated late Pleistocene deposit beneath a well-defined Early Holocene Hoabinhian deposit. Th
A comprehensive analysis of changes in body form and skeletal robusticity from the Terminal Pleistocene through the Holocene, leading to the modern European human phenotype. Skeletal Variation and Ada
This 1993 book examines case studies of North American Quaternary mammalian evolution within the larger domain of evolutionary theory. It presents studies of a variety of taxa (xenarthrans, rodents, carnivores, ungulates) examined over several temporal scales, from a few thousand years during the Holocene to millions of years of late Pliocene and Pleistocene time. Different organisational levels are represented, from mosaic population variation, to a synopsis of Quaternary evolution of an entire order (Rodentia). The book also includes purely theoretical and methodological contributions, for example, on the statistical recognition of stasis in the fossil record, ways to calculate evolutionary rates, and the use of digital image analysis in the study of dental ontogeny. Perhaps the most important aspect of the studies reported in this book is that they span the time between the 'ecological moment' and 'deep time'. The book will interest vertebrate palaeontologists, ecologists concerned
The Paijan complex, of late Pleistocene to early Holocene age, is known from numerous open-air sites and one rock shelter and occurs more than one thousand kilometers off the Peruvian coastal desert.
This 1993 book examines case studies of North American Quaternary mammalian evolution within the larger domain of evolutionary theory. It presents studies of a variety of taxa (xenarthrans, rodents, carnivores, ungulates) examined over several temporal scales, from a few thousand years during the Holocene to millions of years of late Pliocene and Pleistocene time. Different organisational levels are represented, from mosaic population variation, to a synopsis of Quaternary evolution of an entire order (Rodentia). The book also includes purely theoretical and methodological contributions, for example, on the statistical recognition of stasis in the fossil record, ways to calculate evolutionary rates, and the use of digital image analysis in the study of dental ontogeny. Perhaps the most important aspect of the studies reported in this book is that they span the time between the 'ecological moment' and 'deep time'. The book will interest vertebrate palaeontologists, ecologists concerned
While their health has suffered enormously because of the arrival of the Europeans, it is assumed that Aboriginal people enjoyed good health before 1788. Using data collected from all parts of the continent, this 1995 book studies the health of Australia's original inhabitants over 50,000 years. It represents the first continental survey of its kind and is the first to quantify and describe key aspects of Australian hunter-gatherer health. The book takes a theoretical approach to Upper Pleistocene regional epidemiology and presents empirical data of the health of late Pleistocene and Holocene populations. Major categories of disease described are: stress, osteoarthritis, fractures, congenital deformations, neoplasms and non-specific and treponemal infections. The author also describes surgical techniques used by Aboriginal people. Offering fresh insight into the study of Australian prehistory and Aboriginal culture, this book will be accessible to specialists and general readers alike.
Demonstrates that the land-based geomorphological evidence of environmental change from late Pleistocene, Holocene, historical and contemporary time periods remain central to a full understanding of g
