Description
Archaeology as Human Ecology is a new introduction to concepts and methods in archaeology. It deals not with artifacts, but with sites, settlements, and subsistence. Karl W. Butzer's goal is to interpret the ecosystem of which an archaeologicial site or site network was part. Components of this study include geo-archaeology, archaeobotany, zoo-archaeology, and archaeometry. These methods are then used in examining interactions between human communities and their biophysical environment: the impact of settlement on site formation and the effects of subsistence activities on plants, animals, soils, and overall landscape modification. Finally, the methods and theoretical approach, are applied to examine the processes of cultural change and continuity. The approach of Archaeology as Human Ecology goes far beyond traditional environmental archaeology, which is concerned with simple reconstruction. It provides a clear, systemic approach that immediately allows an assessment of interactions. For the first time, it attempts to develop a comprehensive spatial archaeology - one that is far more than derivative spatial analysis.
Chapter
Scales of environmental variability
Models for ecosystemic change
Unique character of human ecosystems
3 Geo-archaeology I: basic principles
Techniques and procedures
Ultimate collaborative goals
4 Geo-archaeology II: landscape context
Point depositional environments
Linear depositional environments
Areal depositional environments
Geo-archaeological synthesis of microenvironments
Terrain, soils, and biota
5 Geo-archaeology III: stratigraphic context
Stratigraphic nomenclature
Lithostratigraphy: site and setting
6 Geo-archaeology IV: site formation
A Pleistocene prototype: cave sediments
An example of cave geo-archaeology: Cueva Morin
A Holocene prototype: village mounds
Examples of urban geo-archaeology: Giza and Axum
7 Geo-archaeology V: site modification and destruction
Cultural transformation of archaeological residues
Postdepositional disturbance
Geobiochemical modification
Site destruction and artifact dispersal
Environmental modification of archaeological residues
8 Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
Human activity and the soil-sediment system
Geo-archaeological indicators of soil erosion
Soil erosion in the geo-archaeological record
A case study of accelerated soil erosion:Axum, Ethiopia
Land use and soil fertility
Geo-archaeological landscape features
Landscape productivity and degradation
9 Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
Scope and purpose of archaeometry
Materials identification, provenance, and technology
10 Archaeobotany: vegetation and plant utilization
The archaeobotanical record
Retrieval of archaeobotanical information
Paleobotanical interpretation
Dendroecology and dendroclimatology
Human utilization of plants
11 Zoo-archaeology: faunas and animal procurement
Ecological evaluation of fossil assemblages
Domestication and faunal change
12 Spatial integration I: quantitative models for pattern analysis
Components, subsystems, and human ecosystems
Resource-concentration models
13 Spatial integration II: socioecological models for settlement analysis
Scale settlement analysis
Large-scale mobility models for hunter-gatherers
Subsistence-settlement generalizations for huntergatherers
Spatial determinants for agricultural settlement
Real versus perceived environments
14 Spatial integration III: reconstruction of settlement systems
Archaeological site survey
A landscape approach to settlement survey
Reconstruction of settlement patterns: huntergatherers
Reconstruction of settlement patterns: agricultural communities
15 Diachronic systems I: cultural adaptation
Dynamic modes of adaptive systems
16 Diachronic systems II: continuityand change
Adaptive transformation in the Pleistocene record: hominization
Holocene adaptive transformations: taming the environment
Modifications of regional adaptive systems:historical periodicities
Archaeology as Human Ecology
：Method and Theory for a Contextual Approach
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