Resolving complexities of pollen data to improve interpretation of past human activity and natural processes

2017 ◽  
pp. 103-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Grant ◽  
M. Waller
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Natural Processes

Environmental evolution and anthropogenic forcing in the Garigliano coastal plain (Italy) during the Holocene

The Holocene ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 095968362110032
Author(s):  
Halinka Di Lorenzo ◽  
Pietro Aucelli ◽  
Giuseppe Corrado ◽  
Mario De Iorio ◽  
Marcello Schiattarella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Pollen Data ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

The Garigliano alluvial-coastal plain, at the Latium-Campania border (Italy), witnessed a long-lasting history of human-environment interactions, as demonstrated by the rich archaeological knowledge. With the aim of reconstructing the evolution of the landscape and its interaction with human activity during the last millennia, new pollen results from the coastal sector of the Garigliano Plain were compared with the available pollen data from other nearby sites. The use of pollen data from both the coastal and marine environment allowed integrating the local vegetation dynamics within a wider regional context spanning the last 8000 years. The new pollen data presented in this study derive from the analysis of a core, drilled in the coastal sector, which intercepted the lagoon-marshy environments that occurred in the plain as a response to the Holocene transgression and subsequent coastal progradation. Three radiocarbon ages indicate that the chronology of the analyzed core interval ranges from c. 7200 to c. 2000 cal yr BP. The whole data indicate that a dense forest cover characterized the landscape all along the Prehistoric period, when a few signs of human activity are recorded in the spectra, such as cereal crops, pasture activity and fires. The main environmental changes, forced by natural processes (coastal progradation) but probably enhanced by reclamation works, started from the Graeco-Roman period and led to the reduction of swampy areas that favoured the colonisation of the outer plain.

Flake Dispersal Experiments: Noncultural Transformation of the Archaeological Record

1983 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Bowers ◽  
Robson Bonnichsen ◽  
David M. Hoch
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Primary Factor ◽  
Frost Heave ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Alaska Range ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Present Test

Time lapse studies of frost action effects on arctic and subarctic surficial archaeological sites have been conducted from 1973 to the present. Test plots of experimentally produced flakes were constructed in 1973 in the Tangle Lakes Region of the Central Alaska Range and subsequently remapped and photographed in 1974, 1976, and 1980. Similar test plots were laid out in the arctic foothills province of the Brooks Range. Observations made during the study period include: (1) flake displacements of as much as 20 cm/yr; (2) average minimum movement is 4 cm/yr; and (3) upslope movements were observed, suggesting that slope is not the primary factor in flake displacements. Frost heave, needle ice and, possibly, wind appear to be the dominant forces responsible for dispersals. It is argued that these and other natural processes can restructure the archaeological record into patterns that easily can be mistaken for those produced by human activity.

Toward the Definition of Criteria for the Recognition of Artificial Bone Alterations

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard E. Morlan
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Causal Relationships ◽  
Artificial Bone ◽  
Cut Marks ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Fossil Bones ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Made In

Cutting, fracturing, flaking, and polishing of bones and other osseous materials may in some instances be interpreted as evidence of former human activity. Such interpretations must avoid confusion with the wide variety of natural processes that alter bones. Reliable criteria are prerequisite to sound inferences based on bone, regardless of whether they have been redeposited or recovered from primary assemblages. Criteria must be defined by means of actualistic studies (neotaphonomy) and experiments that demonstrate causal relationships between patterns of alteration and the processes that produce them. The criteria can be empoyed in the interpretation of fossil bones (paleotaphonomy) on the basis of uniformitarian principles. At the present time, such relationships are relatively well understood in the case of cut marks on bones, and modest progress has been made in investigating fractured and flaked bones. Polished bones are little understood and difficult to interpret.

Water and People at the Confluence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Abnee Gumbert
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Water Body ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
History Of

Kentucky’s waterways carry a history of the landscape as well as life-sustaining water. Watersheds are any area of land draining water to a common water body, and the quality of the water body reflects human activity and natural processes. The Cane Run watershed is a polluted watershed in central Kentucky. A watershed-based plan was created by investigating the current status of the watershed and making plans to improve its conditions. Some progress has been made to improve the Cane Run watershed. Effective watershed-based plans require scientific inquiry as well as social considerations of the citizens in the watershed.

What drove late Holocene dust activity in central Asia, natural processes or human activity?

2021 ◽  
pp. 110585
Author(s):  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Wenxia Han ◽  
Yongxiang Han ◽  
Shuang Lü ◽  
David Madsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Natural Processes

scholarly journals AGROECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY, GREEN ECONOMY AND BUSINESS MODEL OF FINANCIAL INTEGRATION

World Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gubeladze ◽  
Solomon Pavliashvili
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Ecosystem Management ◽  
Financial Integration ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
Social Use ◽  
Stimulation Of

Ecosystem management is the process of maintaining basic agro-ecological services and restoring natural resources, it meets the modern challenges of the younger generation – their socio-economic, political and cultural needs.The main condition for sustainability in ecosystem management is the effective maintenance and social use of natural resources. This is a multilateral approach that requires significant changes in terms of natural processes and the human impact on the environment.Nowadays, when global problems are getting worse, it becomes more and more necessary to study the fundamental processes of the production of material and energy in nature. Attention should be paid to the growing influence of proper human activity on the planet's biochemical cycle, the inappropriate impact of human activity can lead to a global ecological crisis. Sustainability of agroecosystems, optimal use of natural resources, protection from environmental pollution, stimulation of reproduction, etc.

scholarly journals Ionospheric disturbances generated by different natural processes and by human activity in Earth plasma environment

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (2-3 Sup.) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Rothkaehl ◽  
N. Izohkina ◽  
N. Prutensky ◽  
S. Pulinets ◽  
M. Parrot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Ionospheric Disturbances ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Plasma Environment

scholarly journals Relief in Aeolian Environment. The Surface of Nida Settlement

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 10-23
Author(s):  
Mindaugas Pilkauskas ◽  
Gytis Piličiauskas ◽  
Rokas Vengalis
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Groundwater Level ◽  
Thick Layer ◽  
Geophysical Data ◽  
Wide Area ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Curonian Lagoon ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Curonian Spit ◽  
Natural Processes

During archaeological investigations in Nida settlement in 1974–1978, 2011–2013 and 2016 a lot of stratigraphic data from considerably wide area was gathered. Based on stratigraphy Neolithic paleosol of Nida settlement can be distinguished and it can be used as proxy for reconstruction of paleorelief. Paleosol was recorded in former depressions or on eastward slopes of former dunes. Large area in western part of the settlement was affected by aeolian processes where paleosol did not survive and in the eastern part former surface plunge deeply under groundwater level, these limited the territory considerably for paleorelief reconstruction. Analysis of the paleosol and stratigraphy displayed layering of artefacts in some parts of the settlement, which was interpreted as at least two periods of human activity. Also, in some parts of Nida very thick layer (> 1 m) with artefacts have been recorded which formed because of combination of anthropogenic activity and natural processes. An important insight is made about ancient topographic location of Nida settlement. Based on geological, botanical and geophysical data from Nida and other parts of Curonian spit we argue that earlier interpretation is not supported by recent data and we suggest that Nida settlement was in eastern part of the spit, on the shore of Curonian lagoon.

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