Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I Perspectives
- PART II Foundations
- 3 Geo-archaeology I: basic principles
- 4 Geo-archaeology II: landscape context
- 5 Geo-archaeology III: stratigraphic context
- 6 Geo-archaeology IV: site formation
- 7 Geo-archaeology V: site modification and destruction
- 8 Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
- 9 Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
- 10 Archaeobotany: vegetation and plant utilization
- 11 Zoo-archaeology: faunas and animal procurement
- PART III Synthesis
- References
- Index
8 - Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I Perspectives
- PART II Foundations
- 3 Geo-archaeology I: basic principles
- 4 Geo-archaeology II: landscape context
- 5 Geo-archaeology III: stratigraphic context
- 6 Geo-archaeology IV: site formation
- 7 Geo-archaeology V: site modification and destruction
- 8 Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
- 9 Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
- 10 Archaeobotany: vegetation and plant utilization
- 11 Zoo-archaeology: faunas and animal procurement
- PART III Synthesis
- References
- Index
Summary
Human activity and the soil-sediment system
The impacts of preindustrial human activities are concentrated in and around living areas, but these represent only a small part of a region. By focusing on sites, many archaeologists fail to appreciate the more diffuse but equally real impacts of people on the landscape at large. In the case of prehistorical foragers, these impacts may indeed by subtle and almost intangible, through the use of fire to facilitate hunting, local disturbance of vegetation, inadvertent dispersal of economic plants, and faunal changes as a result of selective hunting pressures (Butzer, 1971a). But farmers and herders normally have significant and even dramatic influences on the environment.
Central to this argument is that the vegetation cover and soil mantle provide a critical resource as well as a protective buffer between the atmosphere and the earth's crust. Under normal circumstances, in a humid landscape, rainfall is intercepted by taller plants, which break raindrop impact and prevent direct rainsplash on mineral soil. Organic leaf litter in various stages of decomposition covers the ground and creates a topsoil layer that cushions water impact, while also acting as a sponge to soak it up. The microfauna of the organic topsoil also maintain a spongy soil structure by converting organic residues into beneficial by-products, enhancing the aeration essential for good plant growth, and allowing water to infiltrate the soil. This diverts surface water from rapid runoff to slow lateral “throughflow” or to recharge the deeper-seated groundwater.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Archaeology as Human EcologyMethod and Theory for a Contextual Approach, pp. 123 - 156Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982