The Archaeology of Drylands

Living at the Margin

Graeme Barker, David Gilbertson, Graeme Barker , D.D. Gilbertson

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English

Routledge
02 November 2000

Archaeology; Archaeology by period & region; Environmental archaeology; Society & culture: general; Anthropology; Arid zones, deserts; Management of land & natural resources; Sustainability

Series: One World Archaeology

Many dryland regions contain archaeological remains which suggest that there must have been intensive phases of settlement in what now seem to be dry and degraded environments. Scholars have often speculated about what must have happened to turn past glories into present day barrenness,

opinions generally dividing between climatic change and human activity as the primary culprit. Perhaps climate shifted to greater aridity, perhaps catastrophic but short-term droughts became too frequent? Or was it that people sowed the seeds of their own destruction, for example by removing trees or developing irrigation systems that promoted salinization,

stripping the landscape for fuelwood, or by allowing their livestock to overgraze? The debate has been characterized more by assertion than by knowledge. Contemporary ecological theory suggests that relationships between dryland environments, climate, and people are not simple: drylands can be remarkably resilient both in terms of their environment and the subsistence and farming systems that were once abundant. The

archaeological, anthropological and palaeoenvironmental studies in The Archaeology of Drylands bring deep time perspecti to these debates. This approach is used to examine how different kinds of societies of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, whether near or remote in time, used their different drylands. It explores the risks and opportunities they confronted, identifies the solutions they reached and the reasons

for them, and examines the short- and long-term consequences of those solutions. Through developing a more sophisticated perspective based upon archaeological knowledge, the chapters in this book discuss successes and failures of past land

use and settlement in drylands, and contribute to wider modern debates about desertification and the sustainability of dryland settlement.

By: Graeme Barker, David Gilbertson
Edited by: Graeme Barker, D.D. Gilbertson
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 900g
ISBN: 9780415230018
ISBN 10: 0415230012
Series: One World Archaeology
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 02 November 2000
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Professional & Vocational , Primary , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Graeme Barker, David Gilbertson

Reviews for The Archaeology of Drylands: Living at the Margin

This book serves as much-needed exemplar of the state of research in drylands archaeology. It is must reading for researchers addressing the complex human ecological dynamic in semi-arid to arid environments. -Journal of Anthropological Research The Arachaelogy of the Drylands does present a number of important contributions that specialists, generalists, and graduate students will find useful, and the combination of classical and prehistoric studies is refreshing. -Center for Archaelogical Studies & Department of Anthropology