Ian Simmons
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748621583
- eISBN:
- 9780748670765
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748621583.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
In the last 12,000 years, human societies have moved through phases of forager, agricultural, industrial and ‘post-industrial’ economies. Each of these has been affected by the natural world and in ...
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In the last 12,000 years, human societies have moved through phases of forager, agricultural, industrial and ‘post-industrial’ economies. Each of these has been affected by the natural world and in turn has changed the workings of the non-human or ‘natural’ components of this planet. For each of these phases the author discusses questions of population growth and distribution together with the technologies available to the human groups of the time. Overall there is no doubt about the central role of access to energy flows and storage in making possible the life ways of many diverse groups. In addition to these basic chronicles the author is at pains to include the question of how these economies and ecologies are represented in today's cultural frameworks. The theme of scale pervades the book. A distinction is made between processes which affect many parts of the world but are not coalescent (‘worldwide’) and those which penetrate the entire biophysical entity and to which the term ‘global’ can truly be applied. Despite the current levels of anxiety about human-environmental relationships this book concentrates on environmental history and not prophecy. There is though a parting shot to the effect that history is probably not a good guide to human futures.Less
In the last 12,000 years, human societies have moved through phases of forager, agricultural, industrial and ‘post-industrial’ economies. Each of these has been affected by the natural world and in turn has changed the workings of the non-human or ‘natural’ components of this planet. For each of these phases the author discusses questions of population growth and distribution together with the technologies available to the human groups of the time. Overall there is no doubt about the central role of access to energy flows and storage in making possible the life ways of many diverse groups. In addition to these basic chronicles the author is at pains to include the question of how these economies and ecologies are represented in today's cultural frameworks. The theme of scale pervades the book. A distinction is made between processes which affect many parts of the world but are not coalescent (‘worldwide’) and those which penetrate the entire biophysical entity and to which the term ‘global’ can truly be applied. Despite the current levels of anxiety about human-environmental relationships this book concentrates on environmental history and not prophecy. There is though a parting shot to the effect that history is probably not a good guide to human futures.
Francis E. Mayle and Mark B. Bush
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567066
- eISBN:
- 9780191717888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567066.003.0015
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and ...
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This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.Less
This chapter reviews previously published palaeovegetation and independent palaeoclimatic datasets to determine the responses of Amazonian ecosystems to changes in temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations that occurred since the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 21,000 years ago, and it uses this long-term perspective to predict the likely vegetation responses to future climate change. Amazonia remained predominantly forested at the LGM, although savannas expanded at the margins of the basin. The combination of reduced temperatures, precipitation, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations resulted in forests structurally and floristically quite different from those of today. Evergreen rainforest distribution increased during the glacial-Holocene transition due to ameliorating climatic and CO2 conditions. However, reduced precipitation in the early-mid Holocene (about 8000-3600 years ago) period caused widespread, frequent fires in seasonal southern Amazonia, with increased abundance of drought-tolerant dry forest taxa and savanna in ecotonal areas. Rainforests expanded once again in the late Holocene period as a result of increased precipitation. The plant communities that existed during the early-mid Holocene period may constitute the closest analogues to the kinds of vegetation responses expected from similar increases in temperature and aridity posited for the 21st century.
Ian Simmons
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262863
- eISBN:
- 9780191734076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262863.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
The domestication of the earth entails the enfolding of ‘nature’ into human life and society. This chapter focuses on the millennia of the Holocene, when human societies consisted of food collectors ...
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The domestication of the earth entails the enfolding of ‘nature’ into human life and society. This chapter focuses on the millennia of the Holocene, when human societies consisted of food collectors and agriculturalists who essentially lived off recently fixed solar energy. In the course of its last 100 years, geography has from time to time taken in, and focused its attention on, diverse approaches to its subject matter. But as a ground bass to these variations, the relation between humans and the environment has persisted, though sometimes virtually at sotto voce level. In part, geography's attention has concentrated on landscapes as visible demonstrations, past and present, of these interrelations, but it has also taken an approach based explicitly on late-twentieth-century ecological theory. This chapter examines humans as hunter-gatherers during prehistoric times, along with the emergence of agriculture in Britain.Less
The domestication of the earth entails the enfolding of ‘nature’ into human life and society. This chapter focuses on the millennia of the Holocene, when human societies consisted of food collectors and agriculturalists who essentially lived off recently fixed solar energy. In the course of its last 100 years, geography has from time to time taken in, and focused its attention on, diverse approaches to its subject matter. But as a ground bass to these variations, the relation between humans and the environment has persisted, though sometimes virtually at sotto voce level. In part, geography's attention has concentrated on landscapes as visible demonstrations, past and present, of these interrelations, but it has also taken an approach based explicitly on late-twentieth-century ecological theory. This chapter examines humans as hunter-gatherers during prehistoric times, along with the emergence of agriculture in Britain.
Eric Post
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148472
- eISBN:
- 9781400846139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148472.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter explores the dynamics of plant and animal species and species assemblages during the Earth's most recent period of rapid warming to garner insights into the potential consequences of ...
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This chapter explores the dynamics of plant and animal species and species assemblages during the Earth's most recent period of rapid warming to garner insights into the potential consequences of future rapid climate change. From the perspective of climate change ecology, the Late Pleistocene and the Pleistocene–Holocene transition are relevant because they represent the end of a prolonged period of climatic fluctuation on multiple temporal scales followed by rapid warming. Not only did Earth's major biomes undergo extensive compositional changes during the late Quaternary and near the termination of the Pleistocene epoch, they also underwent geographically large-scale redistributions, and did so rapidly, in some cases on the scale of decades. If rapid warming during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition contributed to—or even acted as the main driver of—mass extinctions, such a scenario would seem to suggest that contemporary climate change has a similar capacity to precipitate species losses.Less
This chapter explores the dynamics of plant and animal species and species assemblages during the Earth's most recent period of rapid warming to garner insights into the potential consequences of future rapid climate change. From the perspective of climate change ecology, the Late Pleistocene and the Pleistocene–Holocene transition are relevant because they represent the end of a prolonged period of climatic fluctuation on multiple temporal scales followed by rapid warming. Not only did Earth's major biomes undergo extensive compositional changes during the late Quaternary and near the termination of the Pleistocene epoch, they also underwent geographically large-scale redistributions, and did so rapidly, in some cases on the scale of decades. If rapid warming during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition contributed to—or even acted as the main driver of—mass extinctions, such a scenario would seem to suggest that contemporary climate change has a similar capacity to precipitate species losses.
Heather McKillop
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813025117
- eISBN:
- 9780813039497
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813025117.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
This book reports the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of Late Classic Maya salt works on the coast of Belize, transforming our knowledge of the Maya salt trade and craft specialization ...
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This book reports the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of Late Classic Maya salt works on the coast of Belize, transforming our knowledge of the Maya salt trade and craft specialization while providing new insights on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene as well. Salt, basic to human existence, was scarce in the tropical rainforests of Belize and Guatemala, where the Classic Maya civilization thrived between A.D. 300 and 900. The prevailing interpretation has been that salt was imported from the north coast of the Yucatan. However, the underwater discovery and excavation of salt works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon demonstrate that the Maya produced salt by boiling brine in pots over fires at specialized workshops on the Belizean coast. The Punta Ycacos salt works are clear evidence that craft specialization took place in a nondomestic setting and that production occurred away from the economic and political power of the urban Maya rulers, thus providing new clues to the Maya economy and sea trade. The book presents new data on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene that extend geologists' and geographers' sea-level curves from earlier eras. Likewise, it enters the environmental-versus-cultural debate over the Classic Maya collapse by evaluating the factors that led to the abandonment of the Punta Ycacos salt works at the end of the Classic Period, synonymous with the abandonment of inland Maya cities.Less
This book reports the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of Late Classic Maya salt works on the coast of Belize, transforming our knowledge of the Maya salt trade and craft specialization while providing new insights on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene as well. Salt, basic to human existence, was scarce in the tropical rainforests of Belize and Guatemala, where the Classic Maya civilization thrived between A.D. 300 and 900. The prevailing interpretation has been that salt was imported from the north coast of the Yucatan. However, the underwater discovery and excavation of salt works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon demonstrate that the Maya produced salt by boiling brine in pots over fires at specialized workshops on the Belizean coast. The Punta Ycacos salt works are clear evidence that craft specialization took place in a nondomestic setting and that production occurred away from the economic and political power of the urban Maya rulers, thus providing new clues to the Maya economy and sea trade. The book presents new data on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene that extend geologists' and geographers' sea-level curves from earlier eras. Likewise, it enters the environmental-versus-cultural debate over the Classic Maya collapse by evaluating the factors that led to the abandonment of the Punta Ycacos salt works at the end of the Classic Period, synonymous with the abandonment of inland Maya cities.
Anson W. Mackay
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199535095
- eISBN:
- 9780191715754
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199535095.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The Holocene is the Earth's most recent interglacial, which began approximately 11,500 years ago. Environmental change across this interval and the preceding Late Glacial, driven by factors such as ...
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The Holocene is the Earth's most recent interglacial, which began approximately 11,500 years ago. Environmental change across this interval and the preceding Late Glacial, driven by factors such as orbital forcing and solar variability, can be reconstructed from archives with annually-deposited layers or annual growth layers and through the use of empirical and physical models. The early Holocene climatic optimum was an interval of warmer climate than the present day, and was followed by orbitally-related cooling which began to occur in the last 4,000–3,000 years ago. Over the last c.1200 years, three distinct climate phases are apparent in palaeo-records: the Medieval Warm Period (Ad 800–1300), the Little Ice Age (14th–16th century Ad to Ad 1850), and recent warming since AD 1850. Anthropogenic influence on global ecosystems has increased steadily since the Late Glacial, culminating in a modern-day system for which few analogues for past environments now exist.Less
The Holocene is the Earth's most recent interglacial, which began approximately 11,500 years ago. Environmental change across this interval and the preceding Late Glacial, driven by factors such as orbital forcing and solar variability, can be reconstructed from archives with annually-deposited layers or annual growth layers and through the use of empirical and physical models. The early Holocene climatic optimum was an interval of warmer climate than the present day, and was followed by orbitally-related cooling which began to occur in the last 4,000–3,000 years ago. Over the last c.1200 years, three distinct climate phases are apparent in palaeo-records: the Medieval Warm Period (Ad 800–1300), the Little Ice Age (14th–16th century Ad to Ad 1850), and recent warming since AD 1850. Anthropogenic influence on global ecosystems has increased steadily since the Late Glacial, culminating in a modern-day system for which few analogues for past environments now exist.
Koen Bostoen
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198723813
- eISBN:
- 9780191791154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198723813.003.0013
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The Bantu Expansion, the foremost linguistic, cultural, and demographic event in Late Holocene Africa, has sparked a fervent interdisciplinary debate, especially regarding its driving forces. As is ...
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The Bantu Expansion, the foremost linguistic, cultural, and demographic event in Late Holocene Africa, has sparked a fervent interdisciplinary debate, especially regarding its driving forces. As is often the case with hotly debated issues, certain ‘factoids’ bearing little relation to factual evidence emerge. Two such factoids are that (1) the Bantu Expansion would have been a single migratory macro-event and (2) it would have been driven by agriculture. These two widely held beliefs are critically assessed here. Regarding (1), the chapter argues that the Bantu Expansion did involve the actual migration of Bantu speakers but that backward and forward migration occurred after the initial spread and that Bantu languages also expanded through adoption by autochthonous hunter-gatherers. As for (2), the chapter argues that the earliest Bantu speakers had their own archeologically visible culture, but they were not farmers. Therefore, the Bantu Expansion is not a textbook example of a farming/language dispersal.Less
The Bantu Expansion, the foremost linguistic, cultural, and demographic event in Late Holocene Africa, has sparked a fervent interdisciplinary debate, especially regarding its driving forces. As is often the case with hotly debated issues, certain ‘factoids’ bearing little relation to factual evidence emerge. Two such factoids are that (1) the Bantu Expansion would have been a single migratory macro-event and (2) it would have been driven by agriculture. These two widely held beliefs are critically assessed here. Regarding (1), the chapter argues that the Bantu Expansion did involve the actual migration of Bantu speakers but that backward and forward migration occurred after the initial spread and that Bantu languages also expanded through adoption by autochthonous hunter-gatherers. As for (2), the chapter argues that the earliest Bantu speakers had their own archeologically visible culture, but they were not farmers. Therefore, the Bantu Expansion is not a textbook example of a farming/language dispersal.
Geoffrey F. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195372090
- eISBN:
- 9780199893485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372090.003.0013
- Subject:
- Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter proposes that the field of evolutionary psychology must take seriously the notion that evolution has accelerated during the Holocene. This rapid recent evolution might call into question ...
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This chapter proposes that the field of evolutionary psychology must take seriously the notion that evolution has accelerated during the Holocene. This rapid recent evolution might call into question three foundational assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the most important environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) for explaining individual differences resides in the Pleistocene; that evolutionary equilibrium models such as balancing selection are the most relevant theories for explaining heritable variation in personality, cognitive, and mental health traits; and the degree to which psychic unity or species-typicality characterizes human psychology.Less
This chapter proposes that the field of evolutionary psychology must take seriously the notion that evolution has accelerated during the Holocene. This rapid recent evolution might call into question three foundational assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the most important environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA) for explaining individual differences resides in the Pleistocene; that evolutionary equilibrium models such as balancing selection are the most relevant theories for explaining heritable variation in personality, cognitive, and mental health traits; and the degree to which psychic unity or species-typicality characterizes human psychology.
Harvey Weiss (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199329199
- eISBN:
- 9780190607920
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199329199.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Non-Classical
This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD ...
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This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.Less
This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.
Ann L. W. Stodder and Ann M. Palkovich
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813038070
- eISBN:
- 9780813043135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813038070.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
This chapter presents the osteobiography of a man who lived in predynastic Egypt, between 3200 B.C. and 2000 B.C.. One of only a few Neolithic skeletons representing the early Neolithic use of this ...
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This chapter presents the osteobiography of a man who lived in predynastic Egypt, between 3200 B.C. and 2000 B.C.. One of only a few Neolithic skeletons representing the early Neolithic use of this large oasis, the bones and teeth present many clues about the mobile herders and foragers and the early stages of agriculture in the Western Desert of Egypt.Less
This chapter presents the osteobiography of a man who lived in predynastic Egypt, between 3200 B.C. and 2000 B.C.. One of only a few Neolithic skeletons representing the early Neolithic use of this large oasis, the bones and teeth present many clues about the mobile herders and foragers and the early stages of agriculture in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Clark Spencer Larsen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813036670
- eISBN:
- 9780813041803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813036670.003.0003
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
This chapter presents an overview of the archaeological record of three sites occupied during the Deccan Chalcolithic period (2200–700 B.C.) in India. It describes archaeological investigations at ...
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This chapter presents an overview of the archaeological record of three sites occupied during the Deccan Chalcolithic period (2200–700 B.C.) in India. It describes archaeological investigations at Nevasa, Daimabad, and Inamgaon, with particular attention to evidence for subsistence practices and mortuary treatment. The chapter also focuses specifically on evidence for culture change through time at Inamgaon, the only Deccan Chalcolithic site to yield an archaeological record and human skeletal material from the Late Jorwe phase, when most other sites had already been abandoned. The apparent success of adaptive diversity as a strategy for dealing with semi-arid monsoon climate uncertainty during the Early Jorwe phase is contrasted with the severe reductions in subsistence activity, shifts in species preferences, and evidence for culture change in the Late Jorwe phase.Less
This chapter presents an overview of the archaeological record of three sites occupied during the Deccan Chalcolithic period (2200–700 B.C.) in India. It describes archaeological investigations at Nevasa, Daimabad, and Inamgaon, with particular attention to evidence for subsistence practices and mortuary treatment. The chapter also focuses specifically on evidence for culture change through time at Inamgaon, the only Deccan Chalcolithic site to yield an archaeological record and human skeletal material from the Late Jorwe phase, when most other sites had already been abandoned. The apparent success of adaptive diversity as a strategy for dealing with semi-arid monsoon climate uncertainty during the Early Jorwe phase is contrasted with the severe reductions in subsistence activity, shifts in species preferences, and evidence for culture change in the Late Jorwe phase.
John S. Dryzek and Jonathan Pickering
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198809616
- eISBN:
- 9780191846892
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198809616.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the ...
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The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene – the epoch of around 12,000 years of unusual stability in the Earth system, toward the end of which modern institutions such as states and capitalist markets arose. These institutions persist despite their potentially catastrophic failure to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, foremost among them a rapidly changing climate and accelerating biodiversity loss. The pathological trajectories of these institutions need to be disrupted by advancing ecological reflexivity: the capacity of structures, systems, and sets of ideas to question their own core commitments, and if necessary change themselves, while listening and responding effectively to signals from the Earth system. This book envisages a world in which humans are no longer estranged from the Earth system but engage with it in a more productive relationship. We can still pursue democracy, social justice, and sustainability – but not as before. In future, all politics should be first and foremost a politics of the Anthropocene. The arguments are developed in the context of issues such as climate change, biodiversity, and global efforts to address sustainability.Less
The Politics of the Anthropocene is a sophisticated yet accessible treatment of how human institutions, practices, and principles need to be re-thought in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene, the emerging epoch of human-induced instability in the Earth system and its life-support capacities. However, the world remains stuck with practices and modes of thinking that were developed in the Holocene – the epoch of around 12,000 years of unusual stability in the Earth system, toward the end of which modern institutions such as states and capitalist markets arose. These institutions persist despite their potentially catastrophic failure to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, foremost among them a rapidly changing climate and accelerating biodiversity loss. The pathological trajectories of these institutions need to be disrupted by advancing ecological reflexivity: the capacity of structures, systems, and sets of ideas to question their own core commitments, and if necessary change themselves, while listening and responding effectively to signals from the Earth system. This book envisages a world in which humans are no longer estranged from the Earth system but engage with it in a more productive relationship. We can still pursue democracy, social justice, and sustainability – but not as before. In future, all politics should be first and foremost a politics of the Anthropocene. The arguments are developed in the context of issues such as climate change, biodiversity, and global efforts to address sustainability.
C. JOSH DONLAN, PAUL S. MARTIN, and GARY W. ROEMER
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248847
- eISBN:
- 9780520933200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248847.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
This book addresses the question of how the removal of whales in various fisheries influenced the workings of modern oceans. Despite the recent and dramatic nature of these events, their consequences ...
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This book addresses the question of how the removal of whales in various fisheries influenced the workings of modern oceans. Despite the recent and dramatic nature of these events, their consequences are both controversial and poorly documented. This chapter presents a comparative view of other systems in which food web reorganization has apparently followed anthropogenic disturbances to key vertebrates. It argues that prehistoric, historic, and present-day reductions in some vertebrate populations may have been initially triggered by human action. These reductions subsequently distorted ecological dynamics, leading to ecosystem simplification or decay. The chapter turns to deep history in an effort to examine terrestrial vertebrate extinctions in the late Pleistocene and Holocene. It also discusses historic and contemporary examples of strong species interactions and ecosystem decay, starting on land and moving to coastal seas.Less
This book addresses the question of how the removal of whales in various fisheries influenced the workings of modern oceans. Despite the recent and dramatic nature of these events, their consequences are both controversial and poorly documented. This chapter presents a comparative view of other systems in which food web reorganization has apparently followed anthropogenic disturbances to key vertebrates. It argues that prehistoric, historic, and present-day reductions in some vertebrate populations may have been initially triggered by human action. These reductions subsequently distorted ecological dynamics, leading to ecosystem simplification or decay. The chapter turns to deep history in an effort to examine terrestrial vertebrate extinctions in the late Pleistocene and Holocene. It also discusses historic and contemporary examples of strong species interactions and ecosystem decay, starting on land and moving to coastal seas.
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267268
- eISBN:
- 9780520948976
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267268.003.0010
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
The research reported in this chapter has proceeded on the assumption that zooarchaeological, stable isotopic, and ancient DNA analyses can, in combination, elucidate the longer-term histories of ...
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The research reported in this chapter has proceeded on the assumption that zooarchaeological, stable isotopic, and ancient DNA analyses can, in combination, elucidate the longer-term histories of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) in the North Pacific. After a decade of collaboration by investigators from several institutions and agencies, this expectation has proved to be justified. This chapter reviews current state of knowledge about the distribution of northern fur seal remains in the Greater Monterey Bay region, commenting on emerging geographic and temporal patterns. It then presents detailed data on the ecology of present-day northern fur seals and discusses possible differences in ecological parameters between the ancient California Callorhinus population and its contemporaneous cousins north of Oregon. It also considers how these factors, in concert with human predation, may have contributed to the Middle to Late Holocene demise of near-coastal rookeries in California. Finally, it outlines some ways in which collaborative approaches can shed light on emerging questions and problems in northern fur seal historical ecology.Less
The research reported in this chapter has proceeded on the assumption that zooarchaeological, stable isotopic, and ancient DNA analyses can, in combination, elucidate the longer-term histories of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) in the North Pacific. After a decade of collaboration by investigators from several institutions and agencies, this expectation has proved to be justified. This chapter reviews current state of knowledge about the distribution of northern fur seal remains in the Greater Monterey Bay region, commenting on emerging geographic and temporal patterns. It then presents detailed data on the ecology of present-day northern fur seals and discusses possible differences in ecological parameters between the ancient California Callorhinus population and its contemporaneous cousins north of Oregon. It also considers how these factors, in concert with human predation, may have contributed to the Middle to Late Holocene demise of near-coastal rookeries in California. Finally, it outlines some ways in which collaborative approaches can shed light on emerging questions and problems in northern fur seal historical ecology.
Sarah J. Feakins and Peter B. Demenocal
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257214
- eISBN:
- 9780520945425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257214.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Many events in global tectonics and high latitude climate had significant effects on Cenozoic climate evolution. This chapter explores three revolutions in climate research that have dramatically ...
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Many events in global tectonics and high latitude climate had significant effects on Cenozoic climate evolution. This chapter explores three revolutions in climate research that have dramatically altered our perception of global and African climate. First, the discovery that large magnitude climate events occurred abruptly, sometimes in as little as decades, has prompted high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions and new conceptions of climate dynamics. Second, recent climate studies have revealed significant tropical climate variability. Modern observational climate data have indicated that the largest mode of global interannual climate variability is the El Niño Southern Oscillation in the tropical Pacific. Revised estimates of tropical sea surface temperatures during global cool and warm events have revealed significant tropical sensitivity to global climate change. Third, the role of the tropics in global climate change has been reconceptualized. This chapter also discusses the modern climate of Africa, abrupt events in the Paleocene, Oligocene Antarctic glaciation and Southern African climate, mid-Miocene climate change in Africa, plio-Pleistocene environmental change, cool and dry conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum, and Holocene climate.Less
Many events in global tectonics and high latitude climate had significant effects on Cenozoic climate evolution. This chapter explores three revolutions in climate research that have dramatically altered our perception of global and African climate. First, the discovery that large magnitude climate events occurred abruptly, sometimes in as little as decades, has prompted high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions and new conceptions of climate dynamics. Second, recent climate studies have revealed significant tropical climate variability. Modern observational climate data have indicated that the largest mode of global interannual climate variability is the El Niño Southern Oscillation in the tropical Pacific. Revised estimates of tropical sea surface temperatures during global cool and warm events have revealed significant tropical sensitivity to global climate change. Third, the role of the tropics in global climate change has been reconceptualized. This chapter also discusses the modern climate of Africa, abrupt events in the Paleocene, Oligocene Antarctic glaciation and Southern African climate, mid-Miocene climate change in Africa, plio-Pleistocene environmental change, cool and dry conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum, and Holocene climate.
Laurie R. Godfrey, William L. Jungers, and David A. Burney
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257214
- eISBN:
- 9780520945425
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257214.003.0021
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
Madagascar's living lemurs (order Primates) belong to a radiation recently ravaged by extirpation and extinction. There are three extinct and five extant families (two with extinct members) of lemurs ...
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Madagascar's living lemurs (order Primates) belong to a radiation recently ravaged by extirpation and extinction. There are three extinct and five extant families (two with extinct members) of lemurs on an island of less than 600,000 square kilometers. This level of familial diversity characterizes no other primate radiation. The remains of up to seventeen species of recently extinct (or subfossil) lemurs have been found alongside those of still extant lemurs at numerous Holocene and late Pleistocene sites in Madagascar. The closest relatives of the lemurs are the lorisiform primates of continental Africa and Asia; together with the lemurs, these comprise the suborder Strepsirrhini. With regard to extinct lemurs, morphological, developmental, and molecular data support a sister taxon relationship for the Palaeopropithecidae (four genera) and the Indriidae. This chapter describes the systematic paleontology of subfossil lemurs of Madagascar.Less
Madagascar's living lemurs (order Primates) belong to a radiation recently ravaged by extirpation and extinction. There are three extinct and five extant families (two with extinct members) of lemurs on an island of less than 600,000 square kilometers. This level of familial diversity characterizes no other primate radiation. The remains of up to seventeen species of recently extinct (or subfossil) lemurs have been found alongside those of still extant lemurs at numerous Holocene and late Pleistocene sites in Madagascar. The closest relatives of the lemurs are the lorisiform primates of continental Africa and Asia; together with the lemurs, these comprise the suborder Strepsirrhini. With regard to extinct lemurs, morphological, developmental, and molecular data support a sister taxon relationship for the Palaeopropithecidae (four genera) and the Indriidae. This chapter describes the systematic paleontology of subfossil lemurs of Madagascar.
Kristina A. Schierenbeck
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780520278875
- eISBN:
- 9780520959248
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520278875.003.0004
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Nature
The Quaternary was a time of dramatic evolutionary change, due to strong climatic latitudinal gradients. Oceanic biotic exchanges occurred between the Arctic, east Pacific, and from the equator, ...
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The Quaternary was a time of dramatic evolutionary change, due to strong climatic latitudinal gradients. Oceanic biotic exchanges occurred between the Arctic, east Pacific, and from the equator, particularly in times of high sea levels. Prior to the cutoff of the Pacific from the Caribbean, due to the Isthmus of Panama (3 Ma), there was some transfer of fauna such as fishes in the Gobiidae (gobies) and Labridae (wrasses). Fossil evidence supports the west coast as an area that supported speciation throughout the Cenozoic. Comparatively, there has been less extinction on the west coast than the Atlantic or South America in the Pliocene and Pleistocene.Less
The Quaternary was a time of dramatic evolutionary change, due to strong climatic latitudinal gradients. Oceanic biotic exchanges occurred between the Arctic, east Pacific, and from the equator, particularly in times of high sea levels. Prior to the cutoff of the Pacific from the Caribbean, due to the Isthmus of Panama (3 Ma), there was some transfer of fauna such as fishes in the Gobiidae (gobies) and Labridae (wrasses). Fossil evidence supports the west coast as an area that supported speciation throughout the Cenozoic. Comparatively, there has been less extinction on the west coast than the Atlantic or South America in the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
Raymond C. Smith and Douglas G. Goodin
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195150599
- eISBN:
- 9780197561881
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195150599.003.0030
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Meteorology and Climatology
Elias argues (chapter 18, p. 370) that ecosystems are shaped by environmental changes that have occurred over thousands of years so that the century to millennial timescale is of particular ...
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Elias argues (chapter 18, p. 370) that ecosystems are shaped by environmental changes that have occurred over thousands of years so that the century to millennial timescale is of particular significance because “it is on these timescales that ecosystems form, break apart, and reform in new configurations.” Within this context, the authors for the three chapters in part IV evaluate evidence for climate variability since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. They evaluate the biological responses to these longer term changes and highlight the importance of past climatic conditions on current ecosystem function. If we view, as Elias does, glacial climate as a filter through which ecosystems have passed, then variability since the LGM comprises a significant fraction of the biotic history that shaped current ecosystems. This is an overriding theme for this section. Fountain and Lyons (chapter 16), examining a dry valley ecosystem in Antarctica (MCM), evaluate various proxy records to establish the historic context of their landscape. They argue that this historical context is important for a full understanding of ecosystems and that it is especially important for the MCM ecosystem. Providing an excellent example of legacy, the effect of past imprints on current ecosystem function, they present evidence that past climatic variations truly dictate current ecosystem status. During the LGM, ice blocked the current Taylor Valley, forming a lake that contained phytoplankton and algal mats. Subsequent warming eliminated the blockage, drained the large lake, forming several smaller ones, and established the current landscape. The former large lake supplied nutrients to the soil and current lakes. Fountain and Lyons (p. 334) state that “the vital importance of climatic legacy in the dry valleys is due to its extreme environment, low biodiversity, and short food chains.” They also observe a “polar amplification,” whereby the sharp solid/liquid phase transition of water allows small changes in climate to produce relatively large variations in ecosystem response. The Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research site (JRN) is representative of the desert shrubland and desert grassland ecosystems of the southwestern United States. Monger (chapter 17) makes use of a range of biotic (packrat middens, fossil pollen), abiotic (chronological data on lake levels, position of alpine glaciers and rock glaciers) and soil-geomorphic evidence to create a working hypothesis of the bioclimatic changes during the last 20,000 years. There is a remarkable consistency in these proxy estimates given their diversity.
Less
Elias argues (chapter 18, p. 370) that ecosystems are shaped by environmental changes that have occurred over thousands of years so that the century to millennial timescale is of particular significance because “it is on these timescales that ecosystems form, break apart, and reform in new configurations.” Within this context, the authors for the three chapters in part IV evaluate evidence for climate variability since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present. They evaluate the biological responses to these longer term changes and highlight the importance of past climatic conditions on current ecosystem function. If we view, as Elias does, glacial climate as a filter through which ecosystems have passed, then variability since the LGM comprises a significant fraction of the biotic history that shaped current ecosystems. This is an overriding theme for this section. Fountain and Lyons (chapter 16), examining a dry valley ecosystem in Antarctica (MCM), evaluate various proxy records to establish the historic context of their landscape. They argue that this historical context is important for a full understanding of ecosystems and that it is especially important for the MCM ecosystem. Providing an excellent example of legacy, the effect of past imprints on current ecosystem function, they present evidence that past climatic variations truly dictate current ecosystem status. During the LGM, ice blocked the current Taylor Valley, forming a lake that contained phytoplankton and algal mats. Subsequent warming eliminated the blockage, drained the large lake, forming several smaller ones, and established the current landscape. The former large lake supplied nutrients to the soil and current lakes. Fountain and Lyons (p. 334) state that “the vital importance of climatic legacy in the dry valleys is due to its extreme environment, low biodiversity, and short food chains.” They also observe a “polar amplification,” whereby the sharp solid/liquid phase transition of water allows small changes in climate to produce relatively large variations in ecosystem response. The Jornada Long-Term Ecological Research site (JRN) is representative of the desert shrubland and desert grassland ecosystems of the southwestern United States. Monger (chapter 17) makes use of a range of biotic (packrat middens, fossil pollen), abiotic (chronological data on lake levels, position of alpine glaciers and rock glaciers) and soil-geomorphic evidence to create a working hypothesis of the bioclimatic changes during the last 20,000 years. There is a remarkable consistency in these proxy estimates given their diversity.
Roderick J. McIntosh
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300198812
- eISBN:
- 9780300213577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300198812.003.0012
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Climate
One of the most intractable problems in archaeology is that of deep-time memory. There has not been an entirely happy history to the proposition that peoples can package, archive, and transmit an ...
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One of the most intractable problems in archaeology is that of deep-time memory. There has not been an entirely happy history to the proposition that peoples can package, archive, and transmit an historical account of past episodes of stress and surprise (to their bio-physical or their social environments), including a “pro-active” calculus of how to assess and implement successful (or failed) responses in the, often remote, past. The Mande of arid West Africa (including the Sahel) live with precipitation and fluvialregimes that are arguably the least predictable in the world. Our understanding of the palaeoclimatic patterning and forcing mechanisms has improved greatly. Can one imagine an integrated historical “ethno-science” linking strong Mande beliefs and values to these deep-time lessons about the world in which their ancestors lived?Less
One of the most intractable problems in archaeology is that of deep-time memory. There has not been an entirely happy history to the proposition that peoples can package, archive, and transmit an historical account of past episodes of stress and surprise (to their bio-physical or their social environments), including a “pro-active” calculus of how to assess and implement successful (or failed) responses in the, often remote, past. The Mande of arid West Africa (including the Sahel) live with precipitation and fluvialregimes that are arguably the least predictable in the world. Our understanding of the palaeoclimatic patterning and forcing mechanisms has improved greatly. Can one imagine an integrated historical “ethno-science” linking strong Mande beliefs and values to these deep-time lessons about the world in which their ancestors lived?
Nancy B. Simmons, Gregg F. Gunnell, and Nicolas J. Czaplewski
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226696126
- eISBN:
- 9780226696263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226696263.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
While modern molecular phylogenetic studies can provide a framework for understanding relationships of phyllostomids to one another and their close relatives, it is only the fossil record that can ...
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While modern molecular phylogenetic studies can provide a framework for understanding relationships of phyllostomids to one another and their close relatives, it is only the fossil record that can provide calibration points for reconstructing the temporal pattern of diversification. Additionally, the fossil record can facilitate synthetic understanding of patterns of morphological change over time. The fossil record of Phyllostomidae definitely extends to the early Miocene (~ 21-19 Ma) of Panama, and may extend as far back as the late middle Eocene (~41 Ma) of Peru, but it is surprisingly incomplete before the Pleistocene. Crown group members of the extant subfamilies Phyllostominae and Lonchophyllinae are known from Miocene localities in the Neotropics. Most Miocene phyllostomids exhibit dental morphology and body sizes suggesting that they were insectivores, but some may have been at least partially carnivorous or omnivorous, indicating that ecological diversification in the family was well underway in the Miocene. Large numbers of phyllostomid fossils are known from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, but no Late Miocene or Pliocene fossil phyllostomids are known, hence there is a ~10 million year gap in the fossil record.Less
While modern molecular phylogenetic studies can provide a framework for understanding relationships of phyllostomids to one another and their close relatives, it is only the fossil record that can provide calibration points for reconstructing the temporal pattern of diversification. Additionally, the fossil record can facilitate synthetic understanding of patterns of morphological change over time. The fossil record of Phyllostomidae definitely extends to the early Miocene (~ 21-19 Ma) of Panama, and may extend as far back as the late middle Eocene (~41 Ma) of Peru, but it is surprisingly incomplete before the Pleistocene. Crown group members of the extant subfamilies Phyllostominae and Lonchophyllinae are known from Miocene localities in the Neotropics. Most Miocene phyllostomids exhibit dental morphology and body sizes suggesting that they were insectivores, but some may have been at least partially carnivorous or omnivorous, indicating that ecological diversification in the family was well underway in the Miocene. Large numbers of phyllostomid fossils are known from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, but no Late Miocene or Pliocene fossil phyllostomids are known, hence there is a ~10 million year gap in the fossil record.
