Archaeology, Human Impacts, and Historical Ecology on San Miguel Island, California

Archaeology, Human Impacts, and Historical Ecology on San Miguel Island, California PDF Author: Todd J. Braje
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780549165392
Category : Animal remains (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 766

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Book Description
Two national commissions recently concluded that the world's oceans are in a state of crisis. A relatively high percentage of commercial fisheries are either fully exploited or overexploited and a number of coastal ecosystems are near collapse. Jackson et al. (2001) and Pauly et al. (1998) have argued that to understand the ocean crisis, we need to develop deeper historical perspectives on the ecology of coastal ecosystems and the impacts that humans have had on them. California's Channel Islands contain a remarkable record of maritime people's interaction with marine and terrestrial ecosystems for the last 12,000 years. Thousands of well-preserved shell middens provide archaeologists, other scientists, and resource managers with information concerning the historical ecology of the islands and the evolving relationship between humans and their fragile island ecosystems.

Archaeology, Human Impacts, and Historical Ecology on San Miguel Island, California

Archaeology, Human Impacts, and Historical Ecology on San Miguel Island, California PDF Author: Todd J. Braje
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780549165392
Category : Animal remains (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 766

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two national commissions recently concluded that the world's oceans are in a state of crisis. A relatively high percentage of commercial fisheries are either fully exploited or overexploited and a number of coastal ecosystems are near collapse. Jackson et al. (2001) and Pauly et al. (1998) have argued that to understand the ocean crisis, we need to develop deeper historical perspectives on the ecology of coastal ecosystems and the impacts that humans have had on them. California's Channel Islands contain a remarkable record of maritime people's interaction with marine and terrestrial ecosystems for the last 12,000 years. Thousands of well-preserved shell middens provide archaeologists, other scientists, and resource managers with information concerning the historical ecology of the islands and the evolving relationship between humans and their fragile island ecosystems.

The Archaeology and Historical Ecology of Late Holocene San Miguel Island

The Archaeology and Historical Ecology of Late Holocene San Miguel Island PDF Author: Torben C. Rick
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
ISBN: 1938770315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
California's northern Channel Islands have one of the longest and best-preserved archaeological records in the Americas, spanning some 13,000 calendar years. When European explorers first travelled to the area, these islands were inhabited by the Chumash, some of the most populous and culturally complex hunter-gatherers known. Chumash society was characterised by hereditary leaders, sophisticated exchange networks and interaction spheres, and diverse maritime economies. Focusing on the archaeology of five sites dated to the last 3,000 years, this book examines the archaeology and historical ecology of San Miguel Island, the westernmost and most isolated of the northern Channel Islands. Detailed faunal, artefact, and other data are woven together in a diachronic analysis that investigates the interplay of social and ecological developments on this unique island. The first to focus solely on San Miguel Island archaeology, this book examines issues ranging from coastal adaptations to emergent cultural complexity to historical ecology and human impacts on ancient environments.

Modern Oceans, Ancient Sites

Modern Oceans, Ancient Sites PDF Author: Todd J Braje
Publisher: University of Utah Press
ISBN: 9780874809848
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
There is a growing consensus in the scientific realm that the world’s oceans are reaching a state of crisis as commercial fisheries are more widely overexploited and many coastal ecosystems are approaching collapse. A number of scientists and resource managers have argued that a successful understanding of the current crisis can be found through the development of a deeper historical perspective of the ecology of coastal ecosystems and the impacts that humans have had on them. In Modern Oceans, Ancient Sites: Archaeology and Marine Conservation on San Miguel Island, California, Todd Braje works to provide just such an understanding, bridging the divide between the archaeological record and the modern crisis. Using archaeological, paleoecological, and historical datasets from California’s Channel Islands and the larger Santa Barbara Channel region, Braje explores the evolving relationship between humans and fragile island ecosystems. San Miguel Island, westernmost of the Northern Channel Islands, holds archaeological records spanning 10,000 years, providing a backdrop for the examination of changes in human demography, subsistence, and technology over time. Braje’s systematic excavations of five well-preserved sitesranging from a 9500-year-old shell midden to a 150-year-old abalone fishing camptranslate into a long-term case study that enables a unique assessment of the human impacts on marine ecosystems. Modern Oceans, Ancient Sites: Archaeology and Marine Conservation on San Miguel Island, California helps to provide a more complete picture of human sea and land use through time, offering vital information for understanding, interpreting, and managing the past, present, and future of both the Channel Islands and global marine ecosystems. Braje demonstrates the relevance of archaeological, historical, and paleoecological data to extant environmental problems and concludes with tangible and practical recommendations for managing modern marine ecosystems and fisheries.

Islands through Time

Islands through Time PDF Author: Todd J. Braje
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442278587
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Explore the remarkable history of one of the jewels of the US National Park system California’s Northern Channel Islands, sometimes called the American Galápagos and one of the jewels of the US National Park system, are a located between 20 and 44 km off the southern California mainland coast. Celebrated as a trip back in time where tourists can capture glimpses of California prior to modern development, the islands are often portrayed as frozen moments in history where ecosystems developed in virtual isolation for tens of thousands of years. This could not, however, be further from the truth. For at least 13,000 years, the Chumash and their ancestors occupied the Northern Channel Islands, leaving behind an archaeological record that is one of the longest and best preserved in the Americas. From ephemeral hunting and gathering camps to densely populated coastal villages and Euro-American and Chinese historical sites, archaeologists have studied the Channel Island environments and material culture records for over 100 years. They have pieced together a fascinating story of initial settlement by mobile hunter-gatherers to the development of one of the world’s most complex hunter-gatherer societies ever recorded, followed by the devastating effects of European contact and settlement. Likely arriving by boat along a “kelp highway,” Paleocoastal migrants found not four offshore islands, but a single super island, Santarosae. For millennia, the Chumash and their predecessors survived dramatic changes to their land- and seascapes, climatic fluctuations, and ever-evolving social and cultural systems. Islands Through Time is the remarkable story of the human and ecological history of California’s Northern Channel Islands. We weave the tale of how the Chumash and their ancestors shaped and were shaped by their island homes. Their story is one of adaptation to shifting land- and seascapes, growing populations, fluctuating subsistence resources, and the innovation of new technologies, subsistence strategies, and socio-political systems. Islands Through Time demonstrates that to truly understand and preserve the Channel Islands National Park today, archaeology and deep history are critically important. The lessons of history can act as a guide for building sustainable strategies into the future. The resilience of the Chumash and Channel Island ecosystems provides a story of hope for a world increasingly threatened by climate change, declining biodiversity, and geopolitical instability.

The Archaeology and Historical Ecology of Small Scale Economies

The Archaeology and Historical Ecology of Small Scale Economies PDF Author: Victor D. Thompson
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813063914
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Most research into humans' impact on the environment has focused on large-scale societies; a corollary assumption has been that small scale economies are sustainable and in harmony with nature. The contributors to this volume challenge this notion, revealing how such communities shaped their environment—and not always in a positive way. Offering case studies from around the world—from Brazil to Japan, Denmark to the Rocky Mountains—the chapters empirically demonstrate the substantial transformations of the surrounding landscape made by hunter-gatherer and limited horticultural societies. Summarizing previous research as well as presenting new data, this book shows that the environmental impact and legacy of societies are not always proportional their size. Understanding that our species leaves a footprint wherever it has been leads to both a better understanding of our prehistoric past and to deeper implications for our future relationship to the world around us.

An Archaeology of Abundance

An Archaeology of Abundance PDF Author: Kristina M. Gill
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813057000
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
The islands of Alta and Baja California changed dramatically in the centuries after Spanish colonists arrived. Native populations were decimated by disease, and their lives were altered through forced assimilation and the cessation of traditional foraging practices. Overgrazing, overfishing, and the introduction of nonnative species depleted natural resources severely. Most scientists have assumed the islands were also relatively marginal for human habitation before European contact, but An Archaeology of Abundance reassesses this long-held belief, analyzing new lines of evidence suggesting that the California islands were rich in resources important to human populations. Contributors examine data from Paleocoastal to historic times that suggest the islands were optimal habitats that provided a variety of foods, fresh water, minerals, and fuels for the people living there. Botanical remains from these sites, together with the modern resurgence of plant communities after the removal of livestock, challenge theories that plant foods had to be imported for survival. Geoarchaeological surveys show that the islands had a variety of materials for making stone tools, and zooarchaeological data show that marine resources were abundant and that the translocation of plants and animals from the mainland further enhanced an already rich resource base. Studies of extensive exchange, underwater forests of edible seaweeds, and high island population densities also support the case for abundance on the islands. Concluding that the California islands were not marginal environments for early humans, the discoveries presented in this volume hold significant implications for reassessing the ancient history of islands around the world that have undergone similar ecological transformations. A volume in the series Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology, edited by Victor D. Thompson

Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems

Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems PDF Author: Torben C. Rick
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520934296
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Archaeological data now show that relatively intense human adaptations to coastal environments developed much earlier than once believed—more than 125,000 years ago. With our oceans and marine fisheries currently in a state of crisis, coastal archaeological sites contain a wealth of data that can shed light on the history of human exploitation of marine ecosystems. In eleven case studies from the Americas, Pacific Islands, North Sea, Caribbean, Europe, and Africa, leading researchers working in coastal areas around the world cover diverse marine ecosystems, reaching into deep history to discover how humans interacted with and impacted these aquatic environments and shedding new light on our understanding of contemporary environmental problems.

Archaeology and Historical Ecology Along the Ring of Fire

Archaeology and Historical Ecology Along the Ring of Fire PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Marine historical ecological research is taking a central role in helping us understand the effects of humans on nearshore marine ecosystems. On California’s Northern Channel Islands, in particular, historical ecological research has provided information on the history of human-environmental ecodynamics, and this research can act as a model for similar studies around the globe. Using data from 26 archaeological sites or site components spanning the last 10,000 years on San Miguel Island, and size data collected by modern resource managers, we compared the population distribution of black abalone ( Haliotis cracherodii) to identify trends related to cultural and environmental changes. These data provide a better understanding of the history of black abalone populations, offer deep historical baselines to evaluate their recovery along the islands, and have implications for the monitoring and restoration of this endangered species. This study serves as an example of the type of historical ecological research that can be conducted in other island environments, specifically in the Solomon Islands. In order to establish a historical ecological research program, however, we must first establish a cultural chronology of the area. I present the results of a recent archaeological survey and radiocarbon dates collected from Simbo Island, in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, aimed at building a cultural chronology for the island. Historical ecology can do much to shed light on long-term human-environment interaction, but the history of human occupation on Simbo is not well understood. The findings discussed herein represent an important step in understanding human occupation of Simbo and developing a historical ecological research program on the island.

Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters

Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters PDF Author: Todd J. Braje
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520267265
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
“The bones recovered from the middens of the northeastern Pacific shorelines have important stories to tell biologists, marine mammalogists, and those concerned with marine conservation. This volume unearths a wealth of information about the historical ecology of seals, sea lions, and sea otters in the North Pacific that spans thousands of years. It provides fascinating insights into how the world once looked, and how it may one day look again as seals, sea lions, and sea otters reclaim and recolonize their former haunts.”—Andrew Trites, Director, Marine Mammal Research Unit, University of British Columbia “Braje and Rick have assembled a compelling set of case studies on the long-term and complex interactions between people, marine mammals, and environments in the Northeast Pacific. The promise of zooarchaeology as historical science is on full display, as researchers use geochemistry, aDNA, morphometrics, and traditional analytic methods to address questions of utmost importance to the long-term health of coastal ecosystems. If this book doesn't convince conservation biology about the need to take the long view of animal histories and ecosystems into account in developing conservation management plans, I'm not sure what will.”—Virginia L. Butler, Department of Anthropology, Portland State University

Marine Historical Ecology in Conservation

Marine Historical Ecology in Conservation PDF Author: John N. Kittinger
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520959604
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
This pioneering volume provides a blueprint for managing the challenges of ocean conservation using marine historical ecology—an interdisciplinary area of study that is helping society to gain a more in-depth understanding of past human-environmental interactions in coastal and marine ecosystems and of the ecological and social outcomes associated with these interactions. Developed by groundbreaking practitioners in the field, Marine Historical Ecology in Conservation highlights the innovative ways that historical ecology can be applied to improve conservation and management efforts in the oceans. The book focuses on four key challenges that confront marine conservation: (1) recovering endangered species, (2) conserving fisheries, (3) restoring ecosystems, and (4) engaging the public. Chapters emphasize real-world conservation scenarios appropriate for students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners in marine science, conservation biology, natural resource management, paleoecology, and marine and coastal archaeology. By focusing on success stories and applied solutions, this volume delivers the required up-to-date science and tools needed for restoration and protection of ocean and coastal ecosystems.