Environment plays an uncertain, variable, and sometimes contradictory role as an explanatory concept in historical archaeology. In this, historical archaeology is not unique. Crumley (1994:2), for example, observes that in the typical introduction to anthropology course or textbook, the environment plays an enormous role in interpreting the early history of human evolution but that “mid-way through the text or term, the environment no longer figures in the narrative except as a resource to be commoditized.”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Benton, T., editor, 1996, The Greening of Marxism. Guilford Press, New York and London.
Blanton, D.B., 2000, Drought as a Factor in the Jamestown Colony, 1607–1612. Historical Archaeology 34(4):74–81.
Brumfiel, E., 1992, Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Breaking and Entering the Ecosystem—Gender, Class, and Faction Steal the Show. American Anthropologist 94:551–567.
Cassell, M., editor, 2005, Landscapes of Industrial Labor. Historical Archaeology 39(3).
Crumley, C.L., 1987, Historical Ecology. In Regional Dynamics: Burgundian Landscapes in Historical Perspective, edited by C.L. Crumley and W. Marquardt, pp. 237–264. Academic Press, New York.
Crumley, C.L., editor, 1994, Historical Ecology. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Crumley, C.L., editor, 2001, New Directions in Anthropology and Environment. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.
Crumley, C.L., and Hornborg, A., editors, 2006, The World System and the Earth System: Global Socioenvironmental Change and Sustainability. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California.
Deagan, K.A., 1996, Environmental Archaeology and Historical Archaeology. In Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology, edited by E.J. Reitz, L.A. Newsom, and S.J. Scudder, pp. 359–376. Plenum Press, New York.
Greenwood, R.S., 1993, Old Approaches and New Directions: Implications for Future Research. In Hidden Heritage, Historical Archaeology of the Overseas Chinese, edited by P. Wegars, pp. 375–403. Baywood Publishing Company, Amityville, New York.
Griffiths, T., and Robin, L., 1998, Ecology and Empire: Environmental History of Settler Societies. University of Washington Press, Seattle.
Grimm, N.B., Grove, J.M., Pickett, S.T.A., and Redman, C.L., 2000, Integrated Approaches to Long-Term Studies of Urban Ecological Systems. Bioscience 70:571–584.
Hannigan, J.A., 1995, Environmental Sociology: A Social Constructionist Perspective. Routledge, London and New York.
Hardesty, D.L., 1975, The Niche Concept: Suggestions for its Use in Human Ecology. Human Ecology 3(2):71–85.
Hardesty, D.L., 1977, Ecological Anthropology. John Wiley, New York.
Hardesty, D.L., 1985, Evolution on the Industrial Frontier. In The Archaeology of Frontiers and Boundaries, edited by S. Green and S. Perlman, pp. 213–229. Academic Press, New York.
Hardesty, D.L., 1992, The Miner’s Domestic Household: Perspectives from the American West. In Sozialgeschichte des Bergbaus im 19. Um 20. Jahrhundret (Toward a Social History of Mining in the 19th and 20th Centuries), edited by K. Tenfelde, pp. 180–196. Verlag C.H. Beck, Munich.
Hardesty, D.L., 2007, Perspectives on Global-Change Archaeology. American Anthropologist 109:1–7.
Hardesty, D.L., and Fowler, D.D., 2001, Archaeology and Environmental Changes. In New Directions in Anthropology and Environment, edited by C.L. Crumley, pp. 72–89. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, California.
Hastorf, C.A., 1990, The Ecosystem Model and Long-Term Prehistoric Change: An Example from the Andes. In The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology, edited by E. Moran, pp. 131–157. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
King, R.E., 1993, Mining on “The Last Frontier”: The Case of John Babel (1882–1979) in the Valdez Drainage of Central Alaska, 1920s–1950s. Paper presented at the 26th Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, Kansas City, Missouri.
Kirch, P.V., 1997, Microcosmic Histories: Island Perspectives on ‘Global’ Change. American Anthropologist 99:30–42.
Kirch, P.V., and Hunt, T.L., editors, 1997, Historical Ecology in the Pacific Islands. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Kirch, P.V., and Sahlins, M., 1992, Anahulu: The Anthropology of History in the Kingdom of Hawaii. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Krannich, R., Keenan, S., Walker, M., and Hardesty, D.L., 1996, Social Implications of Severe, Sustained Drought: Case Studies in California and Colorado. Water Resources Bulletin 31(5):851–865.
Krebs, J.R., and Davies, N.B., 1978, Behavioral Ecology. Blackwell, London.
Landon, D.B., 1995, The Place of Environmental and Ecological Approaches in a Post-Processual Archaeology. Paper presented at the 26th Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, Washington, D.C.
Leonard, R.D., and Reed, H.E., 1993, Population Aggregation in the Prehistoric American Southwest: A Selectionist Model. American Antiquity 58:648–661.
Leone, M., 1984, Interpreting Ideology in Historical Archaeology. In Ideology, Power, and Prehistory, edited by D. Miller and C. Tilly, pp. 25–35. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Leone, M., Potter, P., and Shackel, P., 1987, Toward A Critical Archaeology. Current Anthropology 28:283–302.
Lozny, L.R., editor, 2006, Landscapes Under Pressure: Theory and Practice of Cultural Heritage Research and Preservation. Springer, New York.
McIntosh, R.J., Tainter, J.A., and McIntosh, S.K., editors, 2000, The Way the Wind Blows: Climate Change, History, and Human Action. Columbia University Press, New York.
McGuire, R., 2002, A Marxist Archaeology. Percheron Press, Clinton Corners, New York.
Metheny, K.B., 2006, From the Miners’ Doublehouse: Archaeology and Landscape in a Pennsylvania Coal Company Town. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.
Miller, H.M., 1984, Colonization and Subsistence Change on the 17th Century Chesapeake Frontier. Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.
Miller, H.M., 1988, An Archaeological Perspective on the Evolution of Diet in the Colonial Chesapeake, 1620–1745. In Colonial Chesapeake Society, edited by L.G. Carr, P.D. Morgan, and J.B. Russo, pp. 176–199. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
Moran, E.F., editor, 1990, The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
Mrozowski, S.A., 2006, Environments of History: Biological Dimensions of Historical Archaeology. In Historical Archaeology, edited by M. Hall and S. Silliman, pp. 23–41. Blackwell, Malden, Massachusetts.
Netting, R.M., 1993, Smallholders, Households: Farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
O’Brien, M.J., editor, 1996, Evolutionary Archaeology: Theory and Application. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Orser, C.E., Jr., 1988, The Archaeological Analysis of Plantation Society: Replacing Status and Caste with Economics and Power. American Antiquity 53:735–751.
Pyne, S.J., 1995, World Fire: The Culture of Fire on Earth. Holt, New York.
Rappaport, R.A., 1967, Pigs for the Ancestors. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Redman, C., James, S.R., Fish, P.R., and Rogers, J.D., editors, 2004, The Archaeology of Global Change: The Impact of Humans on Their Environment. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Renfrew, C., and Zubrow, E.B.W., editors, 1994, The Ancient Mind. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Rockman, M., and Steele, J., editors, 2003, Colonization of Unfamiliar Landscapes: The Archaeology of Adaptation. Routledge Press, London.
Schaffer, A., and Schaffer, R.C., 1984, Social Impacts on Rural Communities. In Water Scarcity: Impacts on Western Agriculture, edited by E.A. Engelbert and A.F. Scheuring, pp. 309–325. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Schiffer, M.B., 1996, Some Relationships between Behavioral and Evolutionary Archaeologists. American Antiquity 61:643–662.
Skirbekk, G., 1988, Marxism and Ecology. (Translated by J. Caplan.) Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 5(4):95–104.
Smith, E.A., 1991, Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy. Aldine de Gruyter, New York.
Soule, M.E., 1995, The Social Seige of Nature. In Reinventing Nature? Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction, edited by M.E. Soule and G. Lease, pp. 137–170. Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Steward, J.H., 1955, Theory of Culture Change. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Sullivan, A.P., III, and Downum, C.E., 1991, Aridity, Activity, and Volcanic Ash Agriculture: A Study of Short-Term Prehistoric Cultural-Ecological Dynamics. World Archaeology 22(3):271–288.
Taylor, A., 1995, William Cooper’s Town. Vintage Press, New York.
Taylor, A., 1996, Unnatural Inequalities: Social and Environmental History. Environmental History 1(4):6–19.
Teltser, P.A., editor, 1995, Evolutionary Archaeology: Methodological Issues. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Wei, F., 1992, Village Fengshui Principles. In Chinese Landscapes: The Village as Place, edited by R.G. Knapp, pp. 35–45. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
Wilk, R.R., 1991, Household Ecology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Winterhalder, B.P., 1994, Concepts in Historical Ecology: The View from Evolutionary Theory. In Historical Ecology, edited by C.L. Crumley, pp. 17–41. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Vayda, A.P., and Rappaport, R.A., 1968, Ecology, Cultural and Non-cultural. In Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, edited by J. Clifton, pp. 477–497. Houghton Mifflin, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hardesty, D.L. (2009). Historical Archaeology and the Environment: A North American Perspective. In: Gaimster, D., Majewski, T. (eds) International Handbook of Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72071-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-72071-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-72068-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-72071-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)