scholarly journals Where the Meghalayan meets the Anthropocene: Stratigraphic signals of human-environmental interactions on the periphery of Indian civilisation

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-523
Author(s):  
Paweł Prokop
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Northeast India ◽  
Artificial Radionuclide ◽  
Cultural Layer ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Nuclear Weapons Testing ◽  
Environmental Interactions ◽  
Stratigraphic Boundary

The aims of this study were to review human-environment interactions during the Meghalayan and to search for the stratigraphic boundary of a new epoch, informally termed the Anthropocene, as well as to determine whether the stratigraphic signals of human activity on the Meghalaya Plateau in Northeast India can be correlated globally. This plateau is the base of the Meghalayan Age that was determined from a speleothem in a cave located on it. Review indicates that study region developed on the periphery of ancient Indian civilisation, with stratigraphic signals of human activity being apparent in only the last few thousand years; that is, substantially later than the neighbouring ancient Indian civilisation. The stratigraphic signals are heterogeneous and diachronous, not only as a result of various human activities, but also in the effect of the diverse sensitivities of the environment to anthropogenic disturbances. A discrete and visible cultural layer that relates to the development of settlements and the production of new materials is still being formed and reworked. The only synchronous stratigraphic signal with a global range seems to be associated with the artificial radionuclide fallout from nuclear weapons testing, which covers a topsoil layer of up to tens of centimetres thick

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 ЕКОЛОГІЯ ТА СЕРЕДОВИЩЕЗНАВСТВО ЯК НАУКИ І СПЕЦІАЛЬНОСТІ

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-71
Author(s):  
P. S. Hnativ ◽  
I. Ja. Kaprus ◽  
P. R. Xirivs`kyj ◽  
О. D. Zynjuk ◽  
B. V. Krektun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Social Medium ◽  
Toxic Waste ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The World

The tendencies in the development of the scientific-methodological and educational-methodical sphere related to the problems of deepening ecological knowledge, the ecologization of the spheres of productive and non-productive activities and education in particular, are analyzed. The world tendencies and main features of the current situation in environmental education in Ukraine are outlined. The necessity of entering the world standards of studying and assessing the state of the natural environment and the human environment is emphasized. The scheme of methodological structuring and improvement of the new in Ukraine, but well-established in European countries, the field of research and practical knowledge - environmental science – is presented. The environmental science is concerned with the study of all levels of the natural environment, from the cosmic to the intracellular, as well as all levels of the anthropic environment, from the technogenic to the productive, from the socio-cultural to the spiritual-aesthetic. A unique phenomenon of nature is the recognition of multi-level biotic – intra-ecosystem and intra-organismal environments. The subject matter of environmental science is constituted by the scientific foundations of the balanced coexistence of the medium-forming animate and inanimate natural systems and the human community, the methods of rational use of real-energy natural resources for the benefit of mankind without the destruction of the environment. The environmental science aims at the development and promotion of reasonable principles of coexistence of natural and social medium-forming systems in the environment in order to preserve the possibility of satisfying present and future generations of their material and non-material needs. As a system of knowledge, the science of the environment is filled with new information about the evolutionary unity of the material inanimate and living world, the role of science and spirituality in its understanding and preservation. Based on modern scientific and philosophical principles, the perception and importance of the biotic systems, biodiversity and eco-means of all levels is grounded. The environmental science studies the history of the emergence of the human population, its transformation into planetary geological force. Various spheres of human activity are considered, such as urbanization, social hygiene and health, agricultural production, food supply and threats typical of these activities. An inseparable part of education in environmental science is the knowledge of physical real-energy resources and the values of stability of inanimate medium-forming systems. Here, it is necessary to obtain geological knowledge, to study atmospheric phenomena, climate, water resources, natural disasters, as well as ways to control and protect them from pollution, destabilization or depletion. The current section of environmental science deals with the problems of civilization development and the latest achievements in such areas as renewable and safe energy, minimization and neutralization of solid and toxic waste, sustainable urbanization, non-destructive for environment and resources economics, balanced policies and legislation. Nonetheless important is active and optimistic promotion of the necessity to introduce principles of sustainable (eco-safety) development in all spheres of human activity, the formation of the mindset on the inevitability of transition to an economical way of life of an individual and civilization, the need to take an active civil position in society to preserve the environment. The list of priority disciplines for obtaining an education in the specialty of Environmental Protection Technologies is given. It is emphasized that the differentiation of the spheres of research and the study of general ecology and environmental science will allow us to streamline and improve the quality and pace of the ecologization of public consciousness. The implementation of above mentioned ideas will improve the results of environmental and nature protection activities, and will also contribute to the ongoing ecological research.

Advances in Understanding Landscape Influences on Freshwater Habitats and Biological Assemblages

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Aquatic Biota ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Landscape Scales

<i>Abstract.</i>—Over the past decade, numerous studies have identified correlative relationships between aquatic biota and human activities at landscape scales. In addition to demonstrating the pervasive effects of these activities on aquatic biota, these findings have encouraged researchers to suggest that predictive relationships between human activities and aquatic biota could be used to enhance diagnostic power of biological assessments, predict future changes in species distributions, and inform land-use planning. However, to achieve these important goals, descriptions of human activities will need to become more detailed than the simple land use/land cover classifications frequently used. Our purpose is to highlight four sources of human activity data (existing geographic information system layers, census data, remotely sensed images, and visual landscape surveys) that can be used to increase the level of detail with which the human environment is described. Strengths and weaknesses of each data source are discussed and methods for adapting those data to aquatic studies are described by drawing on experiences from studies in the agricultural landscapes of southern Manitoba and southwestern Ontario, Canada. Based on the observations and lessons learned from our previous experiences, we make recommendations for how researchers can identify and apply the data sources that best meet their needs. We also discuss challenges and possible solutions for applying the described data sources as well as for improving data availability in the future. Moreover, we encourage aquatic researchers to allot more time to detailed description of human activities because we believe this to be an effective approach to improving our ability to predict the effects of human activity and thus better assist decision makers in protecting aquatic ecosystems.

The Archaeology of Global Environment Change

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole L. Crumley
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
Non Linear System

Recent, widely recognized changes in the Earth system are, in effect, changes in the coupled human–environment system. We have entered the Anthropocene, when human activity—along with solar forcing, volcanic activity, precession, and the like—must be considered a component (a ‘driver’) of global environmental change (Crutzen and Stoermer 2000; Levin 1998). The dynamic non-linear system in which we live is not in equilibrium and does not act in a predictable manner (see Fairhead, chapter 16 this volume for further discussion of non-equilibrium ecology). If humankind is to continue to thrive, it is of utmost importance that we identify the ideas and practices that nurture the planet as well as our species. Our best laboratory for this is the past, where long-, medium-, and short-term variables can be identified and their roles evaluated. Perhaps the past is our only laboratory: experimentation requires time we no longer have. Thus the integration of our understanding of human history with that of the Earth system is a timely and urgent task. Archaeologists bring two particularly useful sets of skills to this enterprise: how to collaborate, and how to learn from the past. Archaeology enjoys a long tradition of collaboration with colleagues in both the biophysical sciences and in the humanities to investigate human activity in all planetary environments. Archaeologists work alongside one another in the field, live together in difficult conditions, welcome collaboration with colleagues in other disciplines—and listen to them carefully—and tell compelling stories to an interested public. All are rare skills and precious opportunities. Until recently few practitioners of biophysical, social science, and humanities disciplines had experience in cross-disciplinary collaboration. Many scholars who should be deeply engaged in collaboration to avert disaster (for example, specialists in tropical medicine with their counterparts in land use change) still speak different professional ‘languages’ and have very different traditions of producing information. C. P. Snow, in The Two Cultures (1993 [1959]), was among the first to warn that the very structure of academia was leading to this serious, if unintended, outcome.

scholarly journals Settlements and economy of the Funnel Beaker Culture communities. Archaeological and palynological evidence from the annually laminated lake bottom sediments (Gostynin Lake District, central Poland)

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pelisiak ◽  
Małgorzata Rybicka
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Bottom Sediments ◽  
Lake District ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Pollen Diagrams ◽  
Lake Bottom ◽  
Funnel Beaker Culture ◽  
Lake Bottom Sediments ◽  
Annually Laminated Lake Sediments ◽  
Made In

Palynological information preserved in pollen diagrams is of key importance for investigating prehistoric human activity. According to M. Ralska-Jasiewiczowa, of particular importance for assessing anthropopressure are results of the multidisciplinary research of annually laminated lake sediments carried out in Lake Gościąż and its surroundings in the Gostynin Lake District. In light of the results of human-environment analyses, the environmental disturbances recorded in laminated bottom sediments from Lake Gościąż can be described as reflecting pollen being “an account from afar”. In the analysed case, the pollen fallout may have originated from longer distances, and the recorded transformations of plant assemblages, both with respect to phase 5 and phase 6 from Gościąż, can be attributed to humans inhabiting up to 10 km from Lake Gościąż (e.g. around Lake Białe). On the other hand, the observations made in palynological sites of Białe, Lucieńskie, and Gąsak are well-correlated with the archaeological evidence of human activity. These diagrams reflect nearby activity, as the changes recorded in them correlate distinctly with the intensity of FBC settlement.

scholarly journals Staraya Ladoga, SEM investigations of plant remains from palaeosols separated by deposits of the Ladoga transgression. New materials and old problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 163-185
Author(s):  
Platonova N. ◽  
◽  
Levkovskaya G. ◽  
Britskiy D. ◽  
Kartseva L. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Layer ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Ladoga Region ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Lake Ilmen ◽  
Northwestern Region

This paper presents the results of SEM-examination of palynological complexes of two paleosols at the base of the Staraya Ladoga section. There was obtained evidence of the floodplain genesis of the paleosol directly under- lying the cultural layer of Zemlyanoye hillfort. A new palynological marker has been identified here which enables us to ground the synchronous character of the end of the Ladoga Transgression (in the southern Ladoga region) and the regression of Lake Ilmen (in the northwestern region).

scholarly journals Anchoring the landscape: human utilization of the Cerro Gavilán 2 rockshelter, Middle Orinoco, from the Early Holocene to the present

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Scaramelli ◽  
Franz Scaramelli
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Environmental Interactions ◽  
Tropical America ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Initial archaeological investigations at Cerro Gavilán 2, a rockshelter located in the Bolívar State of Venezuela, reveal evidence for human activity that spans the Early Holocene to the present. This report summarizes the information obtained through surface collection, limited excavation, and documentation of the surface features and rock art in the cave. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analysis established dates from excavated strata that range between 9250 ± 60 BP to 3440 ± 40 BP, and are associated with a unifacial flake technology and charred faunal and floral remains, whereas surface remains span the known ceramic sequence for the area. Rock art corresponds to distinctive superimposed styles that indicate continual repainting of the cave through time, serving to anchor the site to the landscape for multiple societies inhabiting the region. It is suggested that the shelter may have fulfilled different functions over time and a sequence of seasonal residential, ritual, and funerary activities is proposed. The rich cultural context found in Cerro Gavilán 2 contributes to advances in Amazonian archaeology that are redefining our knowledge of early developments and the complexity of human/environmental interactions in tropical America.

scholarly journals A Method for Palaeoclimatic Reconstruction in Palynology Based on Multivariate Time-Series Analysis

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joël Guiot
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Multivariate Time Series ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Climatic Forcing ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
Regression Techniques ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
Standard Techniques

ABSTRACT A method based on multiple regression, canonical correlation analysis and the Kalman filter is developed with a view to producing a reliable reconstruction of climate from pollen spectra. The study region is the southern France, where traditional analytical techniques are unsatisfactory due to the heavy influence of human activity and the existence of a complex climate. The first stage of the proposed method is the same as the standard techniques in which a spatial network of 36 sites with recent pollen and climate data were analyzed by regression techniques. But since the recent data are frequently subjected to disturbance by such factors as human activity or the particularities of the local vegetations, a second, independent analytical stage was added, in which pairs of fossil sites were compared using ancient data exclusively. In this way a model of the climatic forcing can be obtained, with the above-mentioned factors left out of account. The reconstructions obtained from the first two stages were then compared in the third stage of the method, and the result is a corrected reconstruction, from which it appears that at 14 000 BP annual temperature was 9oC cooler than present, with a 4°C increase between 13 500 and 11 500 BP followed by a 2oC cooling at 10 500 BP. The Holocene temperature maximum occurred between 8000 and 6000 BP. when the temperature was 1°C warmer than present.

An Introduction to Tourism Impacts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Mason
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Broad Sense ◽  
Tourism Impacts ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
Inorganic Components

Tourism, as a significant form of human activity, can have major effects on people and places, and these effects are commonly referred to as tourism impacts. Tourism always takes place in a context, which we usually refer to, in a broad sense, as the environment. This environmental context is made up of both human and natural features. The human environment comprises economic, social and cultural factors and processes. The natural environment is a combination of inorganic components such as rocks and water, and inorganic processes such as the erosion of rocks, and with organic elements, which comprise plants and animals and organic processes such as those within an ecosystem.

EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION FROM A SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-69
Author(s):  
Botond Gaál
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Intellectual Abilities ◽  
The Universe ◽  
European Civilization

Adrian Vlot used a lot of information when he wrote his article. I do not intend this brief presentation to give additional information or remarks on the topic. My aim is to support his ideas. I am a mathematician, physicist and theologian. I interpret science as a human activity describing and understanding the phenomena of the created universe based on observation, explaining the relationships in the universe afterwards and, in addition, discovering further areas via human intellectual abilities. In my interpretation technology is something through which man makes use of the experience, knowledge, discovered relationships and laws in practice to create new tools or new materials which facilitate further research. That is how science and technology are related. In historical chronology, technology preceded science but later science also achieved results preceding their application in practice. Among others, the chronological intertwining is represented by Faraday and Maxwell’s activities.

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