Environmental archaeology
Encyclopedia
Environmental archaeology is the study of the long-term relationship between humans and their environments. Various sub-disciplines are involved to document and interpret this relationship, including paleoethnobotany
, zooarchaeology
, geomorphology
, palynology
, geophysics
, landscape archaeology
, human biology
and human ecology
. Environmental archaeology has seen a surge of interest in recent years, as it is one of the few disciplines that is able to provide empirical evidence to show how humans have responded to rapid climate change in the past.
Environmental Archaeology has emerged as a named discipline only in the last 30 years. It has rapidly grown in significance and is now seen as a major component to most excavation projects. Many Universities teach the subject as a standard course component and also as a separate degree. One leading university in this field is Royal Holloway University of London where the discipline is taught as part of an Environmental Archaeology degree.
Paleoethnobotany
Paleoethnobotany, also known as archaeobotany in European academic circles, is the archaeological sub-field that studies plant remains from archaeological sites...
, zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology, also known as Archaeozoology, is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. The remains consist primarily of the hard parts of the body such as bones, teeth, and shells...
, geomorphology
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
, palynology
Palynology
Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, orbicules, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments...
, geophysics
Geophysics
Geophysics is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and...
, landscape archaeology
Landscape archaeology
Landscape archaeology is the study of the ways in which people in the past constructed and used the environment around them. Landscape archaeology is inherently multidisciplinary in its approach to the study of culture, and is used by both pre-historical, classic, and historic archaeologists...
, human biology
Human biology
Human Biology is an interdisciplinary area of study that examines humans through the influences and interplay of many diverse fields such as genetics, evolution, physiology, epidemiology, ecology, nutrition, population genetics and sociocultural influences. It is closely related to...
and human ecology
Human ecology
Human ecology is the subdiscipline of ecology that focuses on humans. More broadly, it is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The term 'human ecology' first appeared in a sociological study in 1921...
. Environmental archaeology has seen a surge of interest in recent years, as it is one of the few disciplines that is able to provide empirical evidence to show how humans have responded to rapid climate change in the past.
Environmental Archaeology has emerged as a named discipline only in the last 30 years. It has rapidly grown in significance and is now seen as a major component to most excavation projects. Many Universities teach the subject as a standard course component and also as a separate degree. One leading university in this field is Royal Holloway University of London where the discipline is taught as part of an Environmental Archaeology degree.