Advances in Historical Ecology

Bridging the divide between social and natural sciences, this text uses a holistic perspective to explore the relationships between humans and their environment. The contributors focus on traditional societies where lands are most at risk from the incursions of complex, state-level societies.

The contributors focus on traditional societies where lands are most at risk from the incursions of complex, state-level societies. This book lays the groundwork for a more meaningful understanding of humankind's interaction with its biosphere. Scholars and environmental policymakers alike will appreciate this new critical vocabulary for grasping biocultural phenomena.

Foreward, by Carole L. CrumleyHuman and Material Factors in Historical EcologyHistorical Ecology: Premises and Postulates, by William L. BaleeEcological History and Historical Ecology: Diachronic Modeling Versus Historical Explanation, by Neil L. WhiteheadA Historical-Ecological Perspective on Epidemic Disease, by Linda A. NewsonForged in Fire: History, Land, and Anthropogenic Fire, by Stephen J. PyneDiachronic Ecotones and Anthropogenic Landscapes in Amazonia: Contesting the Consciousness of Conservation, by Darrell A. PoseyMetaphor and Metaphorism: Some Thoughts on Environmental Metahistory, by Elizabeth GrahamRegional Research and Landscape Analyses in Historical EcologyThe Rat That Ate Louisiana: Aspects of Historical Ecology in the Mississippi River Delta, by Tristam R. KidderCultural, Human, and Historical Ecology in the Great Basin: Fifty Years of Ideas About Ten Thousand Years of Prehistory, by Robert L. BettingerAncient and Modern Hunter-Gatherers of Lowland South America: An Evolutionary Problem, by Anna C. RooseveltPotential Versus Actual Vegetation: Human Behavior in a Landscape Medium, by Ted GragsonDomestication as a Historical and Symbolic Process: Wild Gardens and Cultivated Forests in the Ecuadorian Amazon, by Laura RivalIndependent Yet Interdependent "Isode": The Historical Ecology of Traditional Piaroa Settlement Pattern, by Stanford ZentWhatever Happened to the Stone Age? Steel Tools and Yanomami Historical Ecology, by R. Brian FergusonMissionary Activity and Indian Labor in the Upper Rio Negro of Brazil, 1680--1980: A Historical-Ecological Approach, by Janet M. ChernelaCultural Persistence and Environmental Change: The Otomi of the Valle del Mezquital, by Elinor G. K. MelvilleThe Great Cow Explosion in Rajasthan, by Carol HendersonThe Historical Ecology of Thailand: Increasing Thresholds of Human, by Environmental Impact from Prehistory to the Present Leslie E. SponselEpilogue, by T. R. Kidder and William Balee