Scott M. Fitzpatrick - Böcker

Archaeological research on islands has made significant contributions to our understanding of human cultural development, with aquatic resources and maritime adaptations being increasingly recognized as having had profound effects on human evolution, worldwide dispersals, and the development of social complexity. Once thought to be marginal habitats for humans--lacking in many of the necessary dietary and raw material requirements for societies to thrive--recent research in island and coastal regions around the world has shown this to be false. In fact, the opposite appears to be true in many cases, where aquatic resources were plentiful, highly nutritious, and relatively easy to harvest.The Oxford Handbook of Island & Coastal Archaeology is the first volume to synthesize major topics in the subfield of island and coastal archaeology on a truly global scale, including methodological and theoretical advances that have positioned the subfield as central to archaeology, history, and historical ecology. It includes up-to-date syntheses by leading scholars of the development of human societies in island and coastal environments around the world, including Oceania, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. This volume also highlights emerging contemporary issues such as Indigenous perspectives and rights, submerged landscapes, heritage conservation and management, and tourism.This volume explores an array of research topics, including: the origins and development of aquatic adaptations and the exploitation of marine resources; the colonization and settlement histories of island and coastal regions around the worlds; the movement and transfer of exotic goods, plants, and animals; the development of trade and exchange systems between different cultural groups; interaction spheres that evolved through time; reports or comparisons of seafaring technologies worldwide; how insular environments affected or influenced sociocultural complexity; how peoples compensated for restricted resources on some islands; historical ecologies, human impacts, and long-term human resilience in island settings; the transformation of Indigenous societies after European contact; and current multidisciplinary methods and research of archaeologists and other scientists.

Voyages of Discovery is the first major synthesis of island archaeological research worldwide. The work brings together experts in the field who are concerned with analyzing islands and island societies from a variety of different archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Major topics include interaction spheres, exchange, human impacts, and theoretical models.Over the past few decades there has been an increased interest in the archaeology of islands. Archaeological approaches to studying islands and island societies have often mirrored those of biologists because islands are relatively isolated, contain unique species or remnant populations, have an impoverished terrestrial ecology, provide opportunities to investigate the effects of animals (e.g., humans) on ecosystems, lend themselves to manipulative experiments, and have implications for helping us understand environmental and social changes on a global level from a microcosmic view. Although islands can be considered somewhat unique compared to mainland environments, environmental and cultural factors played important roles in how islands and islanders developed over time.The field of island archaeology contributes to understanding the fluid boundaries (both physical and mental) that existed for islanders prehistorically and how they adapted to their island world. This book explores a wide range of issues including the impacts humans have had on island ecosystems, the intentional movement of goods, resources, and animals across vast distances, and ways in which archaeologists analyze islands and island societies methodologically and theoretically.

For more than a century, archaeologists and anthropologists have searched for evidence of when and how peoples first settled the Caribbean islands. Research on this area is pivotal for understanding the migration of peoples in the New World and how small and large populations develop biologically and culturally through time.This unique collection synthesizes our archaeological and biological knowledge about the pre-Columbian settlement of the Caribbean and highlights the various techniques we can use to analyze human migration and settlement patterns throughout history. Newer and well-established techniques, like computer simulations of seafaring, radiocarbon dating, three-dimensional and traditional craniometrics, stable isotopes, and ancient and modern DNA analysis, show great promise for helping us better understand pre-Columbian Caribbean population expansions, while demonstrating the utility of integrating and comparing biological markers with the archaeological record.Surprisingly little attention has been paid to migrations, population movements, and island colonization in the Caribbean islands. This volume fills that void.

Tracing evidence of mind-altering substances across a diverse range of ancient cultures, this collection explores how and why past civilizations harvested, manufactured, and consumed drugs. Case studies examine the use of stimulants, narcotics, and depressants by hunter-gatherers who roamed Africa and Eurasia, prehistoric communities in North and South America, and Maya kings and queens.Offering perspectives from many different fields of study, contributors illustrate the wide variety of sources and techniques that can provide information about materials that are often invisible to archaeologists. They use advanced biomolecular procedures to identity alkaloids and resins on cups, pipes, and other artifacts. They interpret paintings on vases and discuss excavations of breweries and similar sites. Uncovering signs of drugs including ayahuasca, peyote, ephedra, cannabis, tobacco, yaupon, vilca, and maize and molle beer, they explain how psychoactive substances were integral to interpersonal relationships, religious practices, and social cohesion in antiquity.

Mind-altering substances have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, ancient societies sometimes encouraged the consumption of drugs. Focusing on the archaeological study of how various entheogens have been used in the past, this volume examines why humans have social and psychological needs for these substances. Contributors trace the long-term use of drugs in ancient cultures and highlight the ways they evolved from being sacred to recreational in more modern times.By analyzing evidence of these substances across a diverse range of ancient cultures, the contributors explore how and why past civilizations harvested, manufactured, and consumed drugs. Case studies examine the use of stimulants, narcotics, and depressants by hunter-gatherers who roamed Africa and Eurasia, prehistoric communities in North and South America, and Maya kings and queens.Offering perspectives from many different fields of study, contributors illustrate the wide variety of sources and techniques that can provide information about materials that are often invisible to archaeologists. They use advanced biomolecular procedures to identify alkaloids and resins on cups, pipes, and other artifacts. They interpret paintings on vases and discuss excavations of breweries and similar sites. Uncovering signs of drugs, including ayahuasca, peyote, ephedra, cannabis, tobacco, yaupon, vilca, and maize and molle beer, they explain how psychoactive substances were integral to interpersonal relationships, religious practices, and social cohesion in antiquity.