Place, Landscape, and Environment: Anthropological Archaeology in 2009

Abstract

Topics of current interest to anthropological archaeologists include the relationships between people and place, interactions between people and past environments, and responses by past societies to changes in the natural environment. In this article, I focus on recent considerations of past landscapes and the built environment.This research concentrates on such topics as architecture, the utilization of different environmental zones, and transitions from foraging to farming, one of the long-standing topics of interest to anthropological archaeology.Recent archaeological research also emphasizes climate change and warfare, topics that have relevance to current events and conditions in the modern world.

An anthropological perspective on the climate change and violence relationship

“…Artefacts like weapons, defensive features in architecture, and relocation of settlements to more defensible positions indicate potentially elevated risks for physical violence [17,[19][20][21][22]. Laws, policies, and ideologies inscribed on architectural features or recorded in texts may indicate societal shifts and institutional support for social inequalities.…”

“…Laws, policies, and ideologies inscribed on architectural features or recorded in texts may indicate societal shifts and institutional support for social inequalities. Analyzed bureaucratic records including agricultural yields, irrigation system use and maintenance, market prices, imports and exports, taxes, census data, and military supplies and movements can offer insights into the daily stresses experienced by people living in a particular city or state through their resource consumption [22,23]. Excavated food remains document dietary differences associated with social and economic class or shifts linked to overharvest, rationing, or famine at the household level.…”

Archaeology and rapid climate changes: from the collapse concept to a panarchy interpretative model

“…In this context, the catastrophic approach and the collapse concepts as single-cause interpretative hypotheses became increasingly popular. These hypotheses linked sudden cooling and droughts in the past with the collapse of ancient civilisations: the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, the Old Kingdom in Egypt, the pre-Columbian American civilisations, the Mayan and Moche civilisations in Mesoamerica and South America, as well as the Norse culture in Greenland (Arneborg et al 1999;Cullen et al 2000;Gill 2000;deMenocal, 2001;Van Buren 2001;Hassan 2001;Hodell et al 2001;2005;Williams 2002;Haug et al 2003;Stanley et al 2003;Dillehay et al 2004;Fagan 2004;Diamond 2005;Rodning 2010). Jared Diamond (2005.3, 6, 20) was the only one of these authors who cautioned on the complexity of the processes and the often ignored fact that these past shifts in civilisation (e.g., population decline and/or reduction of political, economic and social complexity on a larger scale over a long period) were not necessarily real ecological collapses, but collapses induced by unsustainable subsistence strategies, poor natural resource management, and the degradation of ecosystems.…”

Architecture as Animate Landscape: Circular Shrines in the Ancient Maya Lowlands

“…Many of the current archaeological studies that address cognitive aspects of cultural landscapes tend to focus on the “symbolic aspects” of the built and unbuilt environments (Earle 2008; Koontz et al. 2001; Mathews and Garber 2004; Tate 2008; see also Rodning 2009:183–187 for a current review). One frequently cited example in Mesoamerican archaeology is temple‐pyramids that are likened to artificial mountains, which often contain real or artificial caves (Brady and Ashmore 1999:132–133; Bassie‐Sweet 1991:167; Benson 1985; Tate 2008:31; Vogt 1969:595).…”