Environmental Archaeology

554 Pages·2012·22.04 MB·English

by  Elizabeth J. Reitz

MANUALS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHOD, THEORY AND TECHNIQUE
Series Editors:
Charles E. Orser, Jr., New York State Museum, Albany, NY, USA
Michael B. Schiffer, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/6256

Elizabeth J. Reitz Myra Shackley
●
Environmental Archaeology
Elizabeth J. Reitz Myra Shackley
Georgia Museum of Natural History Nottingham Business School
University of Georgia Nottingham Trent University
Athens, Georgia Nottingham, United Kingdom
USA
ISSN 1571-5752
ISBN 978-1-4614-3337-8 e-ISBN 978-1-4614-3339-2
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-3339-2
Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012936121
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For the anonymous, but real, ecology
student who could not de fi ne an amphibian
even though his assignment was on the
global decline in frog populations, and
dedicated to family, friends, and colleagues,
who made this work possible.

Preface
The stimulus for this work is the in fl uential role that Myra Shackley’s 1981 publica-
tion, Environmental Archaeology , has had on the fi eld. This small volume continues
to linger on the shelves of many environmental archaeologists, treasured as a simple
source where one can obtain a brief summary of the biotic and abiotic components
of archaeological sites. Since 1981, signi fi cant publications have described materi-
als, methods, and interpretations in environmental archaeology. Yet the 1981 vol-
ume is the only one that surveys the soils, sediments, and biological materials
fundamental to this fi eld without presuming the reader is trained in the earth and
biological sciences. The complaints of fi eld staff, environmental archaeologists, and
resource managers that none seem to understand the needs of the others can be
traced, in part, to the un fi lled gap created when the 1981 edition went out of print.
Yet biological and earth scientists, anthropologists, and fi eld staff attracted to the
historical record of human–environmental interactions are more numerous and, in
some cases, more vocal in their need to access this record and to be able to critically
evaluate it. The stimulus for this volume is to update the information in the 1981
volume for a younger generation of environmental archaeologists and for new audi-
ences that have emerged over the decades.
Facilitated in part by the 1981 volume’s impact on the fi eld, the number of prac-
titioners in environmental archaeology and its role in archaeology has grown. Sadly,
it is still too often the case that an excavator turns to environmental archaeology to
justify the excavation and make the fi nal report look more impressive. A corollary
to this is the tendency to rely on environmental archaeology in inverse proportion to
the age of the site, working on the assumption that sites occupied by people with
written records have so much documentary information that there is little to be
learned from environmental archaeology. Others argue that the relationships between
people and their environments are less critical in complex societies so that environ-
mental evidence does not require examination.
These attitudes and assumptions are far from valid. One cannot interpret human
behavior without considering its environmental context or understand Holocene
environments without reference to people. The causes and consequences of these
vii
viii Preface
relationships are critical to addressing fundamental aspects of life, both in the past
and today.
Environmental archaeology is an interdisciplinary fi eld with skilled researchers
producing technical data that provide historic depth for the human role in environ-
ments, the impact of the environment on human society, environmental change and
stasis, and the history of speci fi c sediments, organisms, and ecosystems. Students
and professionals in archaeology, wildlife and heritage conservation management
and policy, and others use these data. Some either do not use archaeological data or
do so inappropriately, because there are few ways for nonspecialists to gain entry
into the literature. For biotic and abiotic data from archaeological sites to contribute
to debates about the causes, frequency, duration, and consequences of environmen-
tal change and stasis, more people should be familiar with site formation processes,
fi eld methods, biogeochemical materials, laboratory techniques, and analytical pro-
cedures that de fi ne the strengths and weaknesses of such data.
Many scholars who produce environmental data from archaeological sites are
unfamiliar with the limitations imposed by archaeological contexts. They may be soil
scientists, art historians, chemists, geologists, plant biologists, geneticists, palaeon-
tologists, veterinarians, lawyers, microbiologists, agricultural historians, mycologists,
taxonomists, ecologists, human biologists, climatologists, forest resource managers,
or epidemiologists, among others. Each discipline has its own theories, methods, and
intellectual histories that engage practitioners of those disciplines. Some of these are
pertinent to the archaeological arena and others are not. These researchers bring per-
spectives and knowledge that enhance archaeological fi eld work and subsequent inter-
pretations. In some cases, however, researchers prepare technically accurate and
competent publications whose meanings elude people untrained in that discipline and
ignore the promise and pitfalls of the archaeological context.
This volume cannot resolve all of the impediments to communication among
these diverse groups. Instead, it focuses on gaps the senior author has found among
her own students: ecologists who think that only people of European descent
adversely impact the environment, anthropologists whose studies of human ecology
are long on theory and short on facts, and archaeologists who confound ecology
with ceramics. Very few of them know what pollen rain or incremental growth
structures are or why they should know about them. In the following pages, we
endeavor to answer questions such as: If the sample is too small, why can’t we just
get more samples? Why does it take longer to identify fi sh bones than it does pot-
sherds? Why can’t we collect all organic samples using the same sampling strate-
gies? Why is a description of the present-day environment inadequate as evidence
for the resources people used in the past?
This volume is designed as a general introduction to site formation processes,
fi eld methods, taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, laboratory procedures, and analyti-
cal procedures for each of the primary systematic data classes. Further reading is
encouraged through references to literature representing the global expanse of envi-
ronmental archaeology, primarily focused on the Holocene. Many of the methods
applied to Holocene studies were developed for, and are still applied to, geological
and archaeological sites of much greater antiquity. The choice to emphasize the
Preface ix
Holocene was made to keep the focus on anatomically and behaviorally modern
people (H omo sapiens sapiens) and to control the tendency for this volume to grow
into several volumes. The emphasis is on biological remains because, though there
are many excellent treatments of soils and sediments, very few writers have attempted
to compile a summary of the organismal part of the archaeological record.
One of the appeals of the 1981 publication was its brevity. This edition remains
true to the introductory format, though it has grown beyond the slim volume that
stimulated this effort. Yet much is left out. It is not possible to cover all of the topics
encompassed under the umbrella of environmental archaeology, even brie fl y. Our
focus is on sediments, soils, and, especially, organisms because of their potential to
inform debates on environments, cultures, heritage management, and species con-
servation. We acknowledge the dif fi culty of being brief without being trivial and
hope we have struck the right balance.
Updating the 1981 work has required faithful attention to our objective: to
provide fundamental information to: (1) people unfamiliar with archaeology; and
(2) people unfamiliar with the biogeochemical foundation of environmental
archaeology. Not all of these are students; many are professionals. The need for this
volume is compounded by the sad fact that many students no longer are trained in
organismal biology and know little about soils, chemistry, genetics, and physics.
We offer this volume with these two audiences in mind. It is not our intention to
provide training in the disciplines involved or to offer thorough treatments of the
complex topics reviewed here. Our wish is to be useful to professionals in other
fi elds, students, archaeologists, and others who wish to know more about environ-
mental data from archaeological sites without necessarily becoming expert in each
topic. Our aim is to present a comprehensive but concise survey of organic materi-
als, primarily, that are basic to environmental archaeology in a form that will be
suitable for beginning professionals yet remain accessible to nonprofessionals. At
the same time, we hope that casual readers will fi nd the treatment readable and the
topics timely and interesting.

Georgia, USA Elizabeth J. Reitz
Nottingham, UK Myra Shackley