Surviving Sudden Environmental Change : Answers from Archaeology / / editors, Jago Cooper and Payson Sheets ; authors, David A. Abbott ... [et al.].

• TeilnehmendeR: Abbott, David A.; Sheets, Payson D.; Cooper, Jago.
• Place / Publishing House: Boulder, Colo. : : University Press of Colorado,, 2012.; ©2012.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (281 p.)
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Archaeologists have long encountered evidence of natural disasters through excavation and stratigraphy. In Surviving Sudden Environmental Change, case studies examine how eight different past human communities-ranging from Arctic to equatorial regions, from tropical rainforests to desert interiors, and from deep prehistory to living memory-faced, and coped with, such dangers. Many disasters originate from a force of nature, such as an earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, drought, or flood. But that is only half of the story; decisions of people and their particular cultural lifeways are the rest. Sociocultural factors are essential in understanding risk, impact, resilience, reactions, and recoveries from massive sudden environmental changes. By using deep-time perspectives provided by interdisciplinary approaches, this book provides a rich temporal background to the human experience of environmental hazards and disasters. In addition, each chapter is followed by an abstract summarizing the important implications for today's management practices and providing recommendations for policy makers. Publication supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Learning to Live with the Dangers of Sudden Environmental Change / Payson Sheets and Jago Cooper -- Hazards, Impacts, and Resilience among Hunter-Gatherers of the Kuril Islands / Ben Fitzhugh -- Responses to Explosive Volcanic Eruptions by Small to Complex Societies in Ancient Mexico and Central America / Payson Sheets -- Black Sun, High Flame, and Flood : Volcanic Hazards in Iceland / Andrew Dugmore and Orri Vesteinsson -- Fail to Prepare then Prepare to Fail : Re-thinking Threat Vulnerability and Mitigation in the Precolumbian Caribbean / Jago Cooper -- Collation, Correlation, and Causation in the Prehistory of Coastal Peru / Daniel H. Sandweiss and Jeffrey Quilter -- Silent Hazards, Invisible Risks : Prehispanic Erosion in the Teotihuacan Valley, Central Mexico / Emily McClung de Tapia -- Domination and Resilience in Bronze Age Mesopotamia / Tate Paulette -- Long-Term Vulnerability and Resilience : Three Examples from Archaeological Study in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico / Margaret C. Nelson, Michelle Hegmon, Keith W. Kintigh, Ann P. Kinzig, Ben A. Nelson, John M. Anderies, David A. Abbott, Katherine A. Spielmann, Scott E. Ingram, Matthew A. Peeples, Stephanie Kulow, Colleen A. Strawhacker, Cathryn Meegan -- Archaeological Overview: Social Evolution, Hazards, and Resilience : Some Concluding Thoughts / Timothy A. Kohler -- Ecodynamics and Resilience Overview: Global Environmental Change, Resilience, and Sustainable Outcomes / Charles L. Redman.