Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America

Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America PDF Author: Samuel Munoz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America

Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America PDF Author: Samuel Munoz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America

Prehistoric Human Environment Interaction in Eastern North America PDF Author: Samuel Munoz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description


People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America

People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America PDF Author: Paul E. Minnis
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816502240
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Prehistoric Native Americans and Ecological Change

Prehistoric Native Americans and Ecological Change PDF Author: Paul A. Delcourt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521662702
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
This book shows that Holocene human ecosystems are complex adaptive systems in which humans interacted with their environment in a nested series of spatial and temporal scales. Using panarchy theory, it integrates paleoecological and archaeological research from the Eastern Woodlands of North America providing a paradigm to help resolve long-standing disagreements between ecologists and archaeologists about the importance of prehistoric Native Americans as agents for ecological change. The authors present the concept of a panarchy of complex adaptive cycles as applied to the development of increasingly complex human ecosystems through time. They explore examples of ecological interactions at the level of gene, population, community, landscape and regional hierarchical scales, emphasizing the ecological pattern and process involving the development of human ecosystems. Finally, they offer a perspective on the implications of the legacy of Native Americans as agents of change for conservation and ecological restoration efforts today.

People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America

People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America PDF Author: Paul E. Minnis
Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Scholarly Press
ISBN: 9781588341334
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
presents the latest information on the use of native plants, the history of crops and their uses, and the impact of humans on their environment. It not only contributes to our understanding of the lives of prehistoric people, it serves as a guide for designing environmentally sustainable lives today.

People and Plants in Ancient Western North America

People and Plants in Ancient Western North America PDF Author: Paul E. Minnis
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 9780816529124
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The environmental diversity of North America is astounding—from circumpolar tundra with a small number of plants more than a few centimeters tall to the lush semitropical forests of the southeastern United States and the Caribbean Basin. No less remarkable is the record of plant usage by the various indigenous peoples who have been living here for more than 12,000 years. For the vast majority of this time, their livelihood—food, shelter, fuel, and medicine—depended on their knowledge and use of the plants that surrounded them. The most comprehensive overview in more than half a century on the interconnectedness of people and plants, this book and its companion volume, People and Plants in Ancient Eastern North America, present the latest information on three major topics: the uses of native plants, the history of crops and their uses, and the impact of humans on their environment. They not only contribute to our understanding of the lives of prehistoric people but also serve as guides for designing sustainable living today.

Ecological Regions of North America

Ecological Regions of North America PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biogeography
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
This volume represents a first attempt at holistically classifying and mapping ecological regions across all three countries of the North American continent. A common analytical methodology is used to examine North American ecology at multiple scales, from large continental ecosystems to subdivisions of these that correlate more detailed physical and biological settings with human activities on two levels of successively smaller units. The volume begins with an overview of North America from an ecological perspective, concepts of ecological regionalization. This is followed by descriptions of the 15 broad ecological regions, including information on physical and biological setting and human activities. The final section presents case studies in applications of the ecological characterization methodology to environmental issues. The appendix includes a list of common and scientific names of selected species characteristic of the ecological regions.

Environmental Change and Population History of North America from the Late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene

Environmental Change and Population History of North America from the Late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene PDF Author: Michelle Chaput
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The assumption that prehistoric Native American land use practices had little impact on the North American landscape persists in the literature. However, recent research suggests the effects of prehistoric burning, deforestation and agriculture may potentially have been greater than previously considered. To resolve this discrepancy, quantitative estimates of changes in human population size and forest structure and composition over the course of the Holocene are needed. This thesis addresses this need by providing radiocarbon-based paleodemographic reconstructions and pollen-inferred estimates of vegetation change, as well as analyses of associations between the two at both continental and regional scales, from the late Pleistocene to the Anthropocene. One way to estimate paleodemographic change is to use the number of radiocarbon (14C) dates from a given area to study patterns of human occupation through time. A review of the literature and compilation of existing databases relevant to this method showed there is now sufficient data to study the paleodemographic history of many regions around the world. An analysis of 14C datasets from North America and Australia compared well with model-based reconstructions of past demographic growth, and provided higher frequency fluctuations in population densities that will be important for future research. Using a kernel density estimation approach, the first estimates of prehistoric population density for North America were obtained and synthesized into a series of continental-scale maps showing the distribution and frequency of 14C dates in the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database (CARD). The maps illustrated the space-time evolution of population and migration patterns, which were corroborated by independent sources of evidence. A methodology based on the statistical evaluation of cross-correlations between population and plant abundance was then developed to analyze the associations between these population estimates and plant communities derived from pollen databases. Periods of high spatial cross-correlation (positive and negative) between population and plant abundance were irregular and did not improve over time, suggesting that ancient human impacts are not discernable at a continental scale, either due to low populations or varying human land use practices. To further examine the relationship between pollen data and human land use at a regional scale, estimates of plant density and landscape openness are needed. The REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) model corrects for the non-linear relationship between pollen production and plant abundance and can therefore be used to map histories of land use and land cover change. The model was applied to pollen records from lake sediments in the deciduous forest of southeastern Quebec. A preliminary analysis comparing these results to population density revealed low population during times of high Populus abundance and high population following the appearance of the mixed temperate forest suggesting a discernable human-environment association at regional scales. Overall, the results of thesis support the growing body of literature that suggests prehistoric Native Americans impacted their environments and that these impacts can be detected and quantified by integrating archaeological and paleoecological information. However, the timing, location, and intensity of human land use has changed in both space and time, suggesting regional- to local-scale analyses of human-environment interactions are most appropriate for continental North America. The methodology presented here can be used to study additional North American regions for the purpose of developing a continental history of human-environment interaction.

Prehistoric People of North America

Prehistoric People of North America PDF Author: Diana Childress
Publisher: Chelsea House Publications
ISBN: 9780791024812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
Describes how archaeologists have used a variety of methods to learn about the past and assemble a picture of prehistoric Native American life.

Human-Environmental Interactions in Prehistoric Periods

Human-Environmental Interactions in Prehistoric Periods PDF Author: Guanghui Dong
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889762556
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description