5 - Strategies for Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in Archaeology

Abstract

This chapter reviews the strategies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction in archaeology. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction in archaeology is the description of change in the physical and biological contexts of human existence. It is an aspect of, and an essential precursor to, paleoecology, the study of environmental relationships in the past. A productive archaeological approach to the reconstruction of paleoenvironments requires fundamentally an understanding that environmental determinism is neither the inspiration nor the goal. Once past that barrier, there need be no apology for undertaking environmental studies within a framework of ecological theory. Ecological hypotheses are not intrinsically better than other hypotheses, but they certainly are extraordinarily useful in providing the understanding of the past. It is the scientific productivity of the ecological perspective on human lives that has fascinated archaeologists and that should continue to challenge them to explore the past with imagination tempered with rigor and impartiality. The goal is knowledge of fully human responses to environmental stressors and opportunities, which cannot be achieved unless those are understood in their diversity.