scholarly journals Shell mounds as the basis for understanding human-environment interactions in far north Queensland, Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Shiner ◽  
P. C. Fanning ◽  
S. J. Holdaway ◽  
F. Petchey ◽  
C. Beresford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Far North ◽  
Shell Mounds ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anadara Granosa ◽  
Level Of Analysis

<p>The Weipa shell mounds have a long history of archaeological research that has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the emergence of late Holocene coastal economies in northern Australia. However, much of this work has focused on broad comparisons of mounds between multiple locations rather than detailed studies of multiple mounds from single locations. This level of analysis is required to understand the record of both human occupation and environmental change and how these have given rise to the form of archaeological record visible in the present. In this paper we describe the results of a recent pilot study of four <em>Anadara granosa</em>-dominated shell mounds at Wathayn Outstation near Weipa in far north Queensland. We adopt a formational approach that investigates variability in shape, size, orientation, stratigraphy, shell fragmentation and diversity and mound chronology, as well as dating of the surfaces upon which the mounds have been constructed. Results indicate multiple periods of shell accumulation in each mound, separated by hiatuses. The mounds are the end product of a complex mix of processes that include how often and how intensively mounds were used and reused, together with the nature of the shell populations that people exploited and the post-depositional environmental changes that have occurred over the centuries the mounds have existed.</p>

Environmental evolution and anthropogenic forcing in the Garigliano coastal plain (Italy) during the Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110032
Author(s):  
Halinka Di Lorenzo ◽  
Pietro Aucelli ◽  
Giuseppe Corrado ◽  
Mario De Iorio ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

The Garigliano alluvial-coastal plain, at the Latium-Campania border (Italy), witnessed a long-lasting history of human-environment interactions, as demonstrated by the rich archaeological knowledge. With the aim of reconstructing the evolution of the landscape and its interaction with human activity during the last millennia, new pollen results from the coastal sector of the Garigliano Plain were compared with the available pollen data from other nearby sites. The use of pollen data from both the coastal and marine environment allowed integrating the local vegetation dynamics within a wider regional context spanning the last 8000 years. The new pollen data presented in this study derive from the analysis of a core, drilled in the coastal sector, which intercepted the lagoon-marshy environments that occurred in the plain as a response to the Holocene transgression and subsequent coastal progradation. Three radiocarbon ages indicate that the chronology of the analyzed core interval ranges from c. 7200 to c. 2000 cal yr BP. The whole data indicate that a dense forest cover characterized the landscape all along the Prehistoric period, when a few signs of human activity are recorded in the spectra, such as cereal crops, pasture activity and fires. The main environmental changes, forced by natural processes (coastal progradation) but probably enhanced by reclamation works, started from the Graeco-Roman period and led to the reduction of swampy areas that favoured the colonisation of the outer plain.

scholarly journals Pampean lizard assemblage from subtropical Brazil: a temporal analysis

2011 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1345-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisele R. Winck ◽  
Tiago G. Dos Santos ◽  
Sonia Z. Cechin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Environmental Disturbances ◽  
Pampa Biome ◽  
History Of ◽  
Recruitment Period

The increasing human occupation of natural environments is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. To mitigate the negative anthropogenic effects, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of natural populations and the natural history of species. A study was conducted with an assemblage of lizards from a disturbed area of the Pampa biome, from February 2001 to January 2004. The assemblage showed a unimodal seasonal pattern, with the recruitment period occurring during the warmer months. The captures were seasonal for two of the three monitored years, and concentrated within warmer months. The minimum temperature explained the number of catches for the assemblage as a whole. However, when the species were analyzed individually, the temperature only explained the seasonal occurrence of Teius oculatus. The abundance of species was significantly different in the third year of study for Cercosaura schreibersii and Ophiodes striatus. This latter species was no longer registered in the study area from May 2003 until the end of the study. Therefore, O. striatus may be more sensitive to environmental changes, considering the events of change in vegetation during the study. With frequent and increasing environmental disturbances, it is necessary to take conservation measures and encourage the increase of knowledge on Pampean lizards.

scholarly journals Developing a Chronology Integrating Archaeological and Environmental Data from Different Contexts: The Late Holocene Sequence of Ounjougou (Mali)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Ozainne ◽  
Laurent Lespez ◽  
Yann Le Drezen ◽  
Barbara Eichhorn ◽  
Katharina Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Current State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anthropogenic Fires ◽  
Holocene Stratigraphy ◽  
State Of Research ◽  
A Site

At Ounjougou, a site complex situated in the Yamé River valley on the Bandiagara Plateau (Dogon country, Mali), multidisciplinary research has revealed a rich archaeological and paleoenvironmental sequence used to reconstruct the history of human-environment interactions, especially during the Late Holocene (3500–300 cal BC). Geomorphological, archaeological, and archaeobotanical data coming from different sites and contexts were combined in order to elaborate a chronocultural and environmental model for this period. Bayesian analysis of 54 14C dates included within the general Late Holocene stratigraphy of Ounjougou provides better accuracy for limits of the main chronological units, as well as for some particularly important events, like the onset of agriculture in the region. The scenario that can be proposed in the current state of research shows an increasing role of anthropogenic fires from the 3rd millennium cal BC onwards, and the appearance of food production during the 2nd millennium cal BC, coupled with a distinctive cultural break. The Late Holocene sequence ends around 300 cal BC with an important sedimentary hiatus that lasts until the end of the 4th century cal AD.

Preliminary Survey and Core Sampling on the Aegean Coast of Turkey

1992 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 75-78
Author(s):  
K. Lambrianides
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Core ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
History Of ◽  
University College London ◽  
The Government ◽  
Geomorphological Evolution ◽  
Coastal Settlement

This survey was planned with the help of the Human Environment Department of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Fieldwork was carried out with the help of: Bayan Asuman Güngör, the government representative (from Türk İslam Müzesi, Yeşil-Bursa). We also welcomed two visitors from Ege Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi: Mr. Kirami Ölgen (geomorphologist and research assistant of Prof, İlhan Kayan, Coğrafya Bölümü) and Dr. Halime Hüryılmaz, (archaeologist, Klasik Arkeoloji Anabilim Dalı), who came to Altınova and provided invaluable expertise. We were also greatly assisted throughout by the advice and involvement of Prof, İlhan Kayan himself before, during and after the coring. Initial analysis of the core samples was carried out at their laboratory at Ege by Prof. Kayan and Mr. Ölgen. The latter also sampled the cores and prepared the chart of the bore-hole findings. Finance was again generously provided by the BIAA and the CRF of London University. Fieldwork took place between 30th October and 8th November 1991.The aim of the survey was to study the geomorphological evolution of the Madra Çay delta and to learn more about the palaeo-environmental history of a mound located on the delta, as part of a study of prehistoric coastal settlement on the Aegean coast of Turkey. Adaptation to the environment is regarded as one of the four functional criteria of cultural systems and we wanted to find out which of the various different phases in the changing environment of the delta had attracted human occupation.

A late-Holocene pollen record from the western Qilian Mountains and its implications for climate change and human activity along the Silk Road, Northwestern China

The Holocene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 1141-1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Xiaozhong Huang ◽  
Zongli Wang ◽  
Tianlong Yan ◽  
En’yuan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Qilian Mountains ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Silk Road

The sparsity of long-term reliable climatic records hampers our understanding of human–environment interactions in the semi-arid Hexi Corridor, NW China. Here, we present a late-Holocene pollen record from a small alpine lake, Tian’E, in the western Qilian Mountains. The chronology is provided by nine accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates from terrestrial plant remains. The ratios of Artemisia and Amaranthaceae (A/C) are used to reconstruct the history of regional humidity: An unstable climate occurred during 1530–1270 BC; there were three relatively wet periods, at 1270 BC–AD 400, AD 1200–1350, and AD 1600–present; and there were two dry periods, from AD 400 to 1200 and from AD 1350 to 1600. Comparison with tree-ring data indicates that continuous droughts were responsible for the abandonment of several archaeological sites and ancient cities in the region, including the major city of Dunhuang, which was abandoned in AD 1372 and AD 1524 for nearly 200 years.

scholarly journals Facing Change through Diversity: Resilience and Diversification of Plant Management Strategies during the Mid to Late Holocene Transition at the Monte Castelo Shellmound, SW Amazonia

Quaternary ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Laura P. Furquim ◽  
Jennifer Watling ◽  
Lautaro M. Hilbert ◽  
Myrtle P. Shock ◽  
Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Plant Management ◽  
History Of

Recent advances in the archaeology of lowland South America are furthering our understanding of the Holocene development of plant cultivation and domestication, cultural niche construction, and relationships between environmental changes and cultural strategies of food production. This article offers new data on plant and landscape management and mobility in Southwestern Amazonia during a period of environmental change at the Middle to Late Holocene transition, based on archaeobotanical analysis of the Monte Castelo shellmound, occupied between 6000 and 650 yr BP and located in a modern, seasonally flooded savanna–forest mosaic. Through diachronic comparisons of carbonized plant remains, phytoliths, and starch grains, we construct an ecology of resource use and explore its implications for the long-term history of landscape formation, resource management practices, and mobility. We show how, despite important changes visible in the archaeological record of the shellmound during this period, there persisted an ancient, local, and resilient pattern of plant management which implies a degree of stability in both subsistence and settlement patterns over the last 6000 years. This pattern is characterized by management practices that relied on increasingly diversified, rather than intensive, food production systems. Our findings have important implications in debates regarding the history of settlement permanence, population growth, and carrying capacity in the Amazon basin.

scholarly journals Molluscan communities in Late Holocene fluvial deposits as an indicator of human activity: A study in Podhale basin in South Poland

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Witold Paweł Alexandrowicz
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Fluvial Sediments ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Fluvial Deposits ◽  
History Of ◽  
Wide Scale

AbstractThe localities of Late Holocene fluvial sediments in the Podhale basin were subjected to malacological analysis. Two types of mollusc communities were found in these formations. The first type is characterized by a high proportion of species typical of open environments such as the zones of wide valleys. The predomination of shade-loving taxa is typical of the second type which is mainly associated with narrow, V-shaped type valleys. Malacological analysis allowed characterization of these communities and reconstruction of environmental changes over the last few hundred years. Particular attention was paid to the reconstruction of the history of human settlement in the Podhale region and its impact on the transformation of the environment. This impact resulted in massive deforestation and the introduction of wide-scale farming and pastoral practices. Application of this malacological analysis enabled the determination of the anthropogenic pressures, and changes in their intensity, over the last few hundred years.

Multi-proxy evidence for late Holocene anthropogenic environmental changes at Bongpo marsh on the east coast of Korea

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungjae Park ◽  
Keun Bae Yu ◽  
Hyoun Soo Lim ◽  
Young Ho Shin
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Carbon Isotopic Composition ◽  
Proxy Record ◽  
Rice Agriculture ◽  
Carbon Isotopic ◽  
Undisturbed Samples ◽  
High Sedimentation ◽  
History Of

AbstractWe present a multi-proxy record (pollen, microscopic charcoal, magnetic susceptibility, carbon-isotopic composition, total organic carbon [TOC], carbon/nitrogen [C/N] ratios, and particle size) of the late Holocene environmental change and human activities from Bongpo marsh on the east coast of Korea. Mutual interaction between the environment and humans during the late Holocene has not been properly investigated in Korea due to the lack of undisturbed samples with high sedimentation rates. In this study, the history of human responses to late Holocene environmental changes is clearly reconstructed using a multi-proxy paleoenvironmental approach that has not previously been applied in Korea. The evidence from Bongpo marsh indicates that 1) Bongpo marsh began to develop ca. 650 BC as a coastal lagoon was rapidly filled with organic matter, 2) agricultural disturbance around the study site remained slight until ca. AD 600, 3) full-scale intensive agriculture prevailed and the area of deforestation increased between ca. AD 600 and ca. AD 1870, and 4) the land use changed from lowland rice agriculture to upland cultivation when agricultural productivity declined after AD 1870, probably due to severe deforestation and the consequent heavy influx of clastic sediment on rice fields, as described in various historical documents.

NEW RADIOCARBON EVIDENCE FOR HUMAN OCCUPATION IN CENTRAL ARGENTINA DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATE HOLOCENE: THE ONGAMIRA VALLEY CASE

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Andrés D Izeta ◽  
Roxana Cattáneo ◽  
Andrés I Robledo ◽  
Mai Takigami ◽  
Minoru Yoneda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Occupational History ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
History Of ◽  
Palaeoenvironmental Changes ◽  
Middle And Late Holocene

ABSTRACT The Ongamira Valley (Córdoba, Argentina) shows a persistent occupational history of its territory. Even one of the first Argentinian radiocarbon (14C) dates was calculated in this valley; for 70 years, the chronology was based on relative dates (stratigraphy and its cultural content). For this reason, since 2010 a 14C dating program has been developed focusing on the chronology of eight of the 60 sites identified so far for the valley. This work reports the outcomes of this program with 27 new dates. These data have been related to characteristics of the material culture, use of space and mobility of hunter-gatherer societies. The results have allowed us to bring new insights into a continuous occupation of the valley since the Middle Holocene according to the human peopling models proposed. It has also been possible to provide greater chronological precision to various activities related to feeding practices, use of space associated with rock-shelters, palaeoenvironmental changes and incorporation of new technologies into daily practices.

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