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Archaeological Contributions to Climate Change Research

The Archaeological Record as a Paleoclimatic and Paleoenvironmental Archive

Bibliographic Data

ID2295346
AuthorsDaniel H Sandwei (0000-0002-9984-8831, Graduate School), Alice R Kelley (0000-0002-8977-1033, Climate Change Institute, and)
Year2012
Volume41
Issue1
Pages371-391
Publication date2012-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnual Review of Anthropology (BOOK_SERIES)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0084-6570 • E-ISSN: 1545-4290
PublisherAnnual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145941
OpenAlexW2118857636
LanguageEN
Citations received71
References cited75

Recent decades have seen a resurgence of interest in human ecodynamics-the relationship among climate, environment, and culture. Most published research concentrates on the potential causal role of climate and environment in culture change. We approach the issue from the other side: The archaeological record often incorporates important, sometimes unique, proxy records of climate, of environment, and of change in both. We detail four case studies, from South America, Southwest Asia, North America, and the Shetland Islands. In each case, the paleoclimatic and/or paleoenvironmental data resulted from multidisciplinary archaeological projects whose major objective was to understand past human behavior. Nevertheless, in each case, the projects generated important information about the natural world in the past. Often, these data play a role in modeling future climatic and environmental change of potential significance to humans. We note a growing use of archaeological proxy data by climate scientists and predict an increase in this trend on the basis of recent history

Archaeological record · Archaeology · Climate change · Environmental change · Geography · Natural (archaeology · Paleoclimatology · Proxy (statistics · Shetland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Oceanography · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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Unique citing works71
Citations per year5,46
Citation span2013 - 2026 (14)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 70
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