Ecology of a Tool

Ecology of a Tool PDF Author: Pierre Perequin
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 178925387X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 832

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Book Description
New Guinea, and especially Papua New Guinea, is the last country in the world where ethnologists were able to closely observe, film and photograph the whole manufacturing chaînes opératoires of polished stone felling tools, from quarry extraction to finished tool use. Research on the polished blades of PNG has evolved over the years, following changing philosophies and research agendas. While it is clear that an exceptional sum of information has been gathered, it remains centered on that small part of the Highlands where conditions for field research were more pleasant than elsewhere. This presentation of Irian Jaya axes therefore tackles a topic that remains mostly unexplored. Until now, stone tool research in New Guinea has followed an anthropocentric approach, in which tools are seen more as vectors for social exchanges than as means of acting on the environment. This monograph takes a different approach. Here, polished stone blades are placed at the center of the world, between, on one side, the transformed natural environment, and, on the other, the social and economic environment. This approach allows for a suggestion of new avenues of inference in archaeology, as well as to test and abandon existing ones. In this volume, the stone blade is considered as a living being, existing in balance within its biotope. This idea is not far removed from the beliefs of Irian Jaya farmers, for whom life animates certain objects of their material culture. Following a brief presentation of Irian Jaya, the function of polished stone blades in Irian Jaya societies and the distribution of hafting styles is described, defined and studied along with the quarrying zones and the areas of diffusion and use of their production. The different trends in each area of polished blade production and exchanges are also noted. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the ethnoarchaeological potential of these contemporary observations.

Ecology of a Tool

Ecology of a Tool PDF Author: Pierre Perequin
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 178925387X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 832

Get Book Here

Book Description
New Guinea, and especially Papua New Guinea, is the last country in the world where ethnologists were able to closely observe, film and photograph the whole manufacturing chaînes opératoires of polished stone felling tools, from quarry extraction to finished tool use. Research on the polished blades of PNG has evolved over the years, following changing philosophies and research agendas. While it is clear that an exceptional sum of information has been gathered, it remains centered on that small part of the Highlands where conditions for field research were more pleasant than elsewhere. This presentation of Irian Jaya axes therefore tackles a topic that remains mostly unexplored. Until now, stone tool research in New Guinea has followed an anthropocentric approach, in which tools are seen more as vectors for social exchanges than as means of acting on the environment. This monograph takes a different approach. Here, polished stone blades are placed at the center of the world, between, on one side, the transformed natural environment, and, on the other, the social and economic environment. This approach allows for a suggestion of new avenues of inference in archaeology, as well as to test and abandon existing ones. In this volume, the stone blade is considered as a living being, existing in balance within its biotope. This idea is not far removed from the beliefs of Irian Jaya farmers, for whom life animates certain objects of their material culture. Following a brief presentation of Irian Jaya, the function of polished stone blades in Irian Jaya societies and the distribution of hafting styles is described, defined and studied along with the quarrying zones and the areas of diffusion and use of their production. The different trends in each area of polished blade production and exchanges are also noted. Finally, it concludes with a discussion of the ethnoarchaeological potential of these contemporary observations.

Ecology of a Tool

Ecology of a Tool PDF Author: Pierre Perequin
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789253896
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
New Guinea, and especially Papua New Guinea, is the last country in the world where ethnologists were able to closely observe, film and photograph the wholemanufacturing chaînes opératoires of polished stone felling tools, from quarryextraction to finished tool use. Research on the polished blades of PNG has evolvedover the years, following changing philosophies and research agendas. While it is clearthat an exceptional sum of information has been gathered, it remains centered on thatsmall part of the Highlands where conditions for field research were more pleasantthan elsewhere. Our presentation of Irian Jaya axes therefore tackles a topic thatremains mostly unexplored.Until now, stone tool research in New Guinea has followed an anthropocentricapproach, in which tools are seen more as vectors for social exchanges than as meansof acting on the environment. This monograph will take a different approach. Here,polished stone blades are placed at the center of the world, between, on one side, thetransformed natural environment, and, on the other, the social and economicenvironment. This approach will allow us to suggest new avenues of inference inarchaeology, as well as to test and abandon existing ones.In this volume, the stone blade is considered as a living being, existing in balancewithin its biotope. This idea is not far removed from the beliefs of Irian Jaya farmers,for whom life animates certain objects of their material culture.Following a brief presentation of Irian Jaya, we will describe the function of polishedstone blades in Irian Jaya societies and the distribution of hafting styles, define andstudy the quarrying zones and the areas of diffusion and use of their production, and,if possible, the different trends noted in each area of polished blade production andexchanges. Finally, we will conclude with a discussion of the ethnoarchaeologicalpotential of these contemporary observations.

Tool Use in Animals

Tool Use in Animals PDF Author: Crickette M. Sanz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107328373
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
The last decade has witnessed remarkable discoveries and advances in our understanding of the tool using behaviour of animals. Wild populations of capuchin monkeys have been observed to crack open nuts with stone tools, similar to the skills of chimpanzees and humans. Corvids have been observed to use and make tools that rival in complexity the behaviours exhibited by the great apes. Excavations of the nut cracking sites of chimpanzees have been dated to around 4-5 thousand years ago. Tool Use in Animals collates these and many more contributions by leading scholars in psychology, biology and anthropology, along with supplementary online materials, into a comprehensive assessment of the cognitive abilities and environmental forces shaping these behaviours in taxa as distantly related as primates and corvids.

Handbook of Trait-Based Ecology

Handbook of Trait-Based Ecology PDF Author: Francesco de Bello
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108472915
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Trait-based ecology is rapidly expanding. This comprehensive and accessible guide covers the main concepts and tools in functional ecology.

Ecology of a Tool

Ecology of a Tool PDF Author: Pierre Pétrequin
Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited
ISBN: 9781789253863
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
English edition of classic French publication on the manufacture, exchange and social and economic significance of New Guinea axes.

The Historical Ecology Handbook

The Historical Ecology Handbook PDF Author: Dave Egan
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1597260339
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
A fundamental aspect of the work of ecosystem restoration is to rediscover the past and bring it into the present-to determine what needs to be restored, why it was lost, and how best to make it live again. This handbook makes essential connections between past and future ecosystems, bringing together leading experts to offer a much-needed introduction to the field of historical ecology and its practical application by on-the-ground restorationists. - from publisher description.

Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics

Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics PDF Author: Devon Gerardo Pena
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816518739
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Until recently, mainstream American environmentalism has been a predominantly white, middle-class movement, essentially ignoring the class, race, and gender dimensions of environmental politics. In this provocative collection of original essays, the environmental dimensions of the Chicana/o experience are explicitly expressed and debated. Employing a variety of genres ranging from poetry to autobiography to theoretical and empirical essays, the voices in this collection speak to the most significant issues of environmentalism and social justice, recognizing throughout the need for a pluralism of Chicana/o philosophies. The contributors provide an excellent basis for understanding how multiple Chicana/o views on the environment play out in the context of dominant social, political and economic views. Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics examines a number of Chicana/o ecological perspectives. How can the ethics of reciprocity present in Chicana/o agropastoral life be protected and applied on a broader scale? How can the dominant society, whose economic structure is invested in "placeless mobility," take note of the harm caused to land-based cultures, take responsibility for it, and take heed before it is too late? Will the larger society be "ecologically housebroken" before it destroys its home? Grounded in actual political struggles waged by Chicana/o communities over issues of environmental destruction, cultural genocide, and socioeconomic domination, this volume provides an important series of snapshots of Chicana/o history. Chicano Culture, Ecology, Politics illuminates the bridges that existÑand must be understoodÑbetween race, ethnicity, class, gender, politics, and ecology. CONTENTS Part 1: IndoHispano Land Ethics Los Animalitos: Culture, Ecology, and the Politics of Place in the Upper RÁo Grande, Devon G. Pe–a Social Action Research, Bioregionalism, and the Upper R’o Grande, RubŽn O. Mart’nez Notes on (Home)Land Ethics: Ideas, Values, and the Land, Reyes Garc’a Part 2: Environmental History and Ecological Politics Ecological Legitimacy and Cultural Essentialism: Hispano Grazing in Northern New Mexico, Laura Pulido The Capitalist Tool, the Lawless, and the Violent: A Critique of Recent Southwestern Environmental History, Devon G. Pe–a and RubŽn O. Mart’nez Ecofeminism and Chicano Environmental Struggles: Bridges across Gender and Race, Gwyn Kirk Philosophy Meets Practice: A Critique of Ecofeminism through the Voices of Three Chicana Activists, Malia Davis Part 3: Alternatives to Destruction The Pasture Poacher (a poem), Joseph C. Gallegos Acequia Tales: Stories from a Chicano Centennial Farm, Joseph C. Gallegos A Gold Mine, an Orchard, and an Eleventh Commandment, Devon G. Pe–a

Practical Field Ecology

Practical Field Ecology PDF Author: C. Philip Wheater
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470694289
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
This book introduces experimental design and data analysis / interpretation as well as field monitoring skills for both plants and animals. Clearly structured throughout and written in a student-friendly manner, the main emphasis of the book concentrates on the techniques required to design a field based ecological survey and shows how to execute an appropriate sampling regime. The book evaluates appropriate methods, including the problems associated with various techniques and their inherent flaws (e.g. low sample sizes, large amount of field or laboratory work, high cost etc). This provides a resource base outlining details from the planning stage, into the field, guiding through sampling and finally through organism identification in the laboratory and computer based data analysis and interpretation. The text is divided into six distinct chapters. The first chapter covers planning, including health and safety together with information on a variety of statistical techniques for examining and analysing data. Following a chapter dealing with site characterisation and general aspects of species identification, subsequent chapters describe the techniques used to survey and census particular groups of organisms. The final chapter covers interpreting and presenting data and writing up the research. The emphasis here is on appropriate wording of interpretation and structure and content of the report.

Roots of Ecology

Roots of Ecology PDF Author: Frank N. Egerton
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520953630
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Ecology is the centerpiece of many of the most important decisions that face humanity. Roots of Ecology documents the deep ancestry of this now enormously important science from the early ideas of Herodotos, Plato, and Pliny, up through those of Linnaeus and Darwin, to those that inspired Ernst Haeckel's mid-nineteenth-century neologism ecology. Based on a long-running series of regularly published columns, this important work gathers a vast literature illustrating the development of ecological and environmental concepts, ideas, and creative thought that has led to our modern view of ecology. Roots of Ecology should be on every ecologist's shelf.

Methods in Historical Ecology

Methods in Historical Ecology PDF Author: Guillaume Odonne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042959447X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This book presents some of the most recent tools, methods and concepts in historical ecology. It introduces students and researchers to state-of-the-art techniques and showcases a wide array of methods dedicated to understanding the history of tropical landscapes. The chapters cover the detection and characterisation of archaeological features, living organisms as witnesses of past human activities, ethnoecological knowledge of ancient anthropogenic landscapes and societal impacts of historical ecology. Whilst mainly based on Amazonian experiences, the contributions aim to strengthen synergies between disciplines and to propose solutions that can be applied elsewhere in the field.