🌿Archaeology of Environmental Change Unit 4 – Landscape Archaeology: Human-Environment Link

What's Landscape Archaeology?

• Interdisciplinary subfield of archaeology focusing on the complex interactions between past human societies and their environments
• Studies how humans have shaped and been shaped by their natural surroundings over time
• Investigates the spatial organization of human activities within landscapes (settlements, resource exploitation, land use patterns)
• Considers both the physical and cultural aspects of landscapes
• Draws upon various fields (geography, ecology, anthropology, history) to understand human-environment relationships
• Recognizes landscapes as dynamic entities that change over time due to natural processes and human interventions
• Aims to reconstruct past landscapes and understand how they influenced human behavior, social organization, and cultural development
  • Examines how landscapes served as settings for human activities (subsistence, trade, ritual)
  • Investigates how landscapes were perceived, experienced, and imbued with meaning by past societies

Key Concepts and Theories

• Landscape as a palimpsest: the idea that landscapes are layered with multiple phases of human activity and environmental change over time
• Cultural ecology: the study of how human societies adapt to and transform their environments through cultural practices and technologies
• Niche construction theory: proposes that organisms, including humans, modify their environments in ways that affect their own evolution and that of other species
• Taskscapes: the concept that landscapes are shaped by the repeated performance of everyday activities and tasks by human agents
• Historical ecology: an approach that emphasizes the long-term, reciprocal interactions between human societies and their environments
• Resilience theory: focuses on the capacity of socio-ecological systems to absorb disturbances and maintain their basic structure and function
• Landscape phenomenology: explores how landscapes are experienced, perceived, and imbued with meaning by human individuals and communities
  • Considers the sensory, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of landscapes
  • Investigates how landscapes shape human identity, memory, and sense of place

Methods and Techniques

• Geoarchaeology: the application of earth science techniques (sedimentology, geomorphology, pedology) to archaeological research
  • Analyzes soils, sediments, and landforms to reconstruct past environments and human activities
  • Uses methods such as soil micromorphology, geochemical analysis, and stratigraphic mapping
• Remote sensing: the use of satellite imagery, aerial photography, and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to map and analyze archaeological landscapes
• Geophysical prospection: non-invasive techniques (magnetometry, ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity) used to detect and map subsurface archaeological features
• Paleoecology: the study of past ecosystems and environments using biological proxies (pollen, plant macrofossils, animal remains)
• Spatial analysis: the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical methods to analyze the spatial patterns and relationships of archaeological data within landscapes
• Ethnoarchaeology: the study of contemporary societies to inform interpretations of past human-environment interactions
• Experimental archaeology: the replication of past human activities and technologies to understand their environmental impacts and constraints
• Collaborative approaches: engaging with local communities and stakeholders to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and diverse perspectives into landscape archaeology research

Case Studies and Examples

• Mayan lowlands (Central America): investigations of how Mayan societies transformed their tropical forest environments through agriculture, urbanization, and water management
• Chaco Canyon (New Mexico, USA): studies of how Ancestral Puebloan communities adapted to an arid landscape through complex systems of roads, trade networks, and ritual landscapes
• Angkor (Cambodia): research on how the Khmer Empire engineered vast hydraulic landscapes of canals, reservoirs, and rice fields to support its urban centers
• Orkney Islands (Scotland): explorations of how Neolithic societies constructed monumental landscapes of stone circles, burial mounds, and settlements in response to their island environment
• Amazonian rainforests (South America): investigations of how indigenous societies have shaped the biodiversity and ecology of the Amazon through long-term practices of agroforestry, fire management, and plant domestication
• Dogon Country (Mali): studies of how the Dogon people have adapted to the challenging landscape of the Bandiagara Escarpment through terraced agriculture, cliff-dwelling architecture, and sacred landscapes
• Rapa Nui (Easter Island): research on how the Rapa Nui society transformed their island landscape through deforestation, monument construction, and agricultural intensification, leading to environmental and social collapse

Human Impact on Landscapes

• Deforestation: the removal of forests for agriculture, settlement, and resource extraction, leading to soil erosion, biodiversity loss, and climate change
• Agricultural intensification: the development of more productive and specialized farming systems (irrigation, terracing, monocropping) to support growing populations, often with long-term environmental consequences
• Urbanization: the growth of cities and the transformation of natural landscapes into built environments, with impacts on land use, resource consumption, and waste generation
• Mining and quarrying: the extraction of minerals, metals, and stone from landscapes, leaving behind scars, tailings, and pollution
• Water management: the manipulation of water resources through the construction of canals, dams, and reservoirs, altering hydrological systems and aquatic ecosystems
• Introduction of non-native species: the intentional or accidental spread of plants and animals to new environments, potentially leading to invasive species and ecological disruptions
• Warfare and conflict: the destruction and abandonment of landscapes due to military activities, displacement of populations, and disruption of land use practices
  • Examples include the "no man's lands" of World War I battlefields and the "bomb craters" of the Vietnam War

Environmental Influences on Human Societies

• Climate change: long-term shifts in temperature, precipitation, and sea levels that have affected human migration, subsistence strategies, and settlement patterns
  • Examples include the impact of the Holocene Climatic Optimum on the spread of agriculture and the influence of the Little Ice Age on the collapse of the Norse settlements in Greenland
• Natural hazards: catastrophic events (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts) that have shaped human perceptions of risk, adaptive strategies, and cultural responses
• Resource availability: the distribution and abundance of critical resources (water, arable land, game animals, raw materials) that have influenced human settlement, trade, and technology
• Topography and terrain: the physical features of landscapes (mountains, valleys, coasts, rivers) that have affected human mobility, communication, and land use patterns
• Soil fertility: the quality and productivity of soils that have influenced agricultural practices, population densities, and social hierarchies
• Ecological diversity: the variety and richness of plant and animal species in a landscape that have provided opportunities and constraints for human subsistence, trade, and cultural practices
• Seasonal cycles: the annual rhythms of temperature, rainfall, and resource availability that have shaped human calendars, rituals, and economic activities
  • Examples include the importance of the Nile River floods for ancient Egyptian agriculture and the role of the monsoon rains in the development of South Asian civilizations

Challenges and Limitations

• Incomplete preservation: the differential survival of archaeological remains due to factors such as soil acidity, erosion, and human disturbance, leading to biased or fragmented records of past landscapes
• Palimpsest effects: the overprinting and mixing of multiple phases of human activity and environmental change in landscapes, making it difficult to disentangle cause-and-effect relationships
• Equifinality: the possibility that similar landscape patterns or features may have been produced by different processes or human behaviors, leading to ambiguous interpretations
• Chronological resolution: the limitations of dating methods (radiocarbon, optically stimulated luminescence) in providing precise and accurate ages for landscape events and changes
• Scalar mismatches: the challenges of integrating data and interpretations across different spatial and temporal scales, from local to regional to global, and from short-term to long-term
• Disciplinary silos: the difficulties of integrating knowledge, methods, and perspectives from different academic fields and stakeholders in landscape archaeology research
• Presentism: the tendency to interpret past landscapes and human-environment interactions through the lens of contemporary values, perceptions, and concerns, potentially leading to anachronistic or ethnocentric understandings
• Political and ethical dimensions: the potential for landscape archaeology research to be influenced by or implicated in contemporary political agendas, land disputes, and cultural heritage issues, raising questions of power, representation, and responsibility

Future Directions and Applications

• Integration of new technologies: the incorporation of advanced remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and virtual reality tools to enhance the mapping, visualization, and interpretation of archaeological landscapes
• Collaborative and community-based approaches: the development of more inclusive and participatory methods of landscape archaeology that engage with local communities, Indigenous groups, and other stakeholders as active partners in research and stewardship
• Comparative and cross-cultural studies: the expansion of landscape archaeology research to diverse regions, time periods, and societies around the world, enabling more robust comparisons and syntheses of human-environment interactions
• Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations: the fostering of greater integration and dialogue between landscape archaeology and other fields (ecology, climate science, sociology, Indigenous studies) to address complex socio-ecological challenges and questions
• Applied and action-oriented research: the use of landscape archaeology knowledge and methods to inform contemporary issues (land management, conservation, sustainable development, climate change adaptation)
• Public outreach and education: the dissemination of landscape archaeology research through accessible and engaging formats (museums, digital media, community events) to raise awareness and appreciation of cultural landscapes and heritage
• Theoretical and methodological innovations: the development of new concepts, frameworks, and approaches in landscape archaeology that push the boundaries of the field and open up new avenues for research and interpretation
  • Examples include the integration of non-Western and Indigenous ontologies, the application of complexity theory and network analysis, and the exploration of sensory and embodied experiences of landscapes