Archaeological Landscape Evolution: The Mariana Islands in the Asia-Pacific Region

ISBN-13: 9783319313993 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 307 str.

Mike T. Carson

Opis

Landscapes have been fundamental to the human experience world-wide and throughout time, yet how did we as human beings evolve or co-evolve with our landscapes? By answering this question, we can understand our place in the complex, ever-changing world that we inhabit. This book guides readers on a journey through the concurrent processes of change in an integrated natural-cultural history of a landscape. While outlining the general principles for global application, a richly illustrated case is offered through the Mariana Islands in the northwest tropical Pacific and furthermore situated in a larger Asia-Pacific context for a full comprehension of landscape evolution at variable scales. The author examines what happened during the first time when human beings encountered the world's Remote Oceanic environment in the Mariana Islands about 3500 years ago, followed by a continuous sequence of changing sea level, climate, water resources, forest composition, human population growth, and social dynamics. This book provides a high-resolution and long-term view of the complexities of landscape evolution that affect all of us today.

Spis treści

Part one: Parameters of study

 

Chapter 1: Landscape evolution as natural-cultural history

Evolution of an inhabited landscape

The Marianas landscape as a model system

Structure and content of this book

References

 

Chapter 2: Global applicability of landscape evolution

Coastal China

California

Hawaiian Islands

Mariana Islands

References

 

Chapter 3: Environmental setting and dynamics

Geological structure

Sea-level history

Coastal geomorphology

Slope erosion-deposition patterns

Soil formation

Plant and animal communities

Climate and weather

Water sources

References

 

Chapter 4: Marianas archaeology in local and regional perspectives

Marianas settlement in Asia-Pacific context

Foundations of Chamorro heritage

References

 

Chapter 5: Coordinating perspectives of the past

Historical perspectives

Linguistics

Human biology and genetics

Faunal records

Botanical records

References

 

Chapter 6: Range of archaeological material culture

Artefacts

Midden

Structural features

Rock art

Caves

Landscapes

References

 

Part Two: Chronological sequence

 

Chapter 7: Building an archaeological chronology

Use of radiocarbon dating

Marianas chronological outline

References

 

Chapter 8: 1500–1100 B.C., initial settlement

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

Chapter 9: 1100–700 B.C., changing coastlines

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

Chapter 10: 700 B.C.–A.D. 1, broadened horizons

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

 

Chapter 11: A.D. 1–500, temporary stability

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

 

Chapter 12: A.D. 500–1000, sustained use of coastal and inland zones

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

 

Chapter 13: A.D. 1000–1700, a sea of islands and monuments

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

 

Chapter 14: A.D. 1700–Present, living with colonialism and globalisation

Site inventory and dating

Landforms

Resource zones

Material culture

Regional context

References

 

 

Part Three: Pursuing research questions

 

Chapter 15: First inhabiting of a landscape

Human migration into a new landscape

Initial inhabiting of a landscape

Origins of landscape evolution

References

 

Chapter 16: Long-term human-environment relations

Geology and landforms

Climate

Sea level and coastal ecology

Water sources

Plant and animal populations

Patterns of residence and resource use

Material culture

Continuity and change

References

 

Chapter 17: Future directions

O autorze

Mike T. Carson (Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Hawaii, 2002) investigates archaeological and palaeo-landscapes throughout the Asia-Pacific region.  He currently is Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC), University of Guam, and he is co-editor of Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, published by University of Hawaii Press.