conference monographs

VU University, Amsterdam, 21st-22nd October 2011

Barely Surviving or More than Enough? The Environmental Archaeology of Subsistence, Specialisation and Surplus Food Production

Conference Organisers and Monograph Editors: Maaike Groot, Daphne Lentjes & Jørn Zeiler

How people produced or acquired their food in the past is one of the main questions in archaeology. Everyone needs food to survive, so the ways in which people managed to acquire it forms the very basis of human existence. Farming was key to the rise of human sedentarism. Once farming moved beyond subsistence, and regularly produced a surplus, it supported the development of specialisation, speeded up the development of socio-economic as well as social complexity, the rise of towns and the development of city states. In short, studying food production is of critical importance in understanding how societies developed.

Environmental archaeology often studies the direct remains of food or food processing, and is therefore well-suited to address this topic. What is more, a wealth of new data has become available in this field of research in recent years. This allows synthesising research with a regional and diachronic approach.

Indeed, most of the papers in this volume offer studies on subsistence and surplus production with a wide geographical perspective. The research areas vary considerably, ranging from the American Mid-South to Turkey. The range in time periods is just as wide, from c. 7000 BC to the 16th century AD. Topics covered include foraging strategies, the combination of domestic and wild food resources in the Neolithic, water supply, crop specialisation, the effect of the Roman occupation on animal husbandry, town-country relationships and the monastic economy. With this collection of papers and the theoretical framework presented in the introductory chapter, we wish to demonstrate that the topic of subsistence and surplus production remains of interest, and promises to generate more exciting research in the future.

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University of Birmingham, 18th September 2001 (AEA Symposia No. 22)

Fertile Ground: Papers in Honour of Susan Limbrey

Meeting Organisers and Monograph Editors: David Smith, Megan Brickley and Wendy Smith.

In 2001, a one-day meeting in honour of Susan Limbrey’s retirement was held at the University of Birmingham organised by Megan Brickley and David Smith. The proceedings of this meeting have been edited to form a volume in the Association for Environmental Archaeology Symposium series. The editors have realised that this volume marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Whither Environmental Archaeology volume and have conducted a survey to assess the present state of environmental archaeology in Britain. The volume will also contain the following papers: New World Dogs: Theory and Practice (Brothwell); The Severn-Wye revisited: Lateglacial-Holocene Floodplain Palaeoenvironments in the Lugg Valley (Brown, Hatton, Pearson, Roseff and Jackson). Wondering about worms: stones, soil and stratigraphy (Canti); Holocene environmental change of the Severn Estuary: regional and national perspectives (Druce); Manuring practices in antiquity: a review of the evidence (Guttmann, Simpson & Davidson); The history of woodland management during the 19th and 20th centuries in the Pindos mountains, NW Greece (C. Hall); Cultural and environmental influences on Late Holocene Landscape change in the Lesser Antilles: Some preliminary observations from Nevis (Heathcote); Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) from archaeological deposits in Britain (Kenward); Microstratigraphy and micromorphology: contributions to interpretation of the Neolithic settlement at Catalhoyuk, Turkey (Matthews); Health in Roman-British urban communities: reflections from the cemeteries (Redfern Roberts); Changing fluvial conditions and landscapes in the Trent Valley: a review of palaeoentomological evidence (Greenwood & Smith); Not seeing the wood for the trees: a palaeoentomological perspective on Holocene woodland composition (Smith and Whitehouse);Textural pedofeatures as tools to diagnose past cultivation – a controlled experiment (Usai).

University of Glasgow, 29th-31st March 2001(AEA Symposia No. 21)

Atlantic Connections & Adaptations:  Economies, Environments and Subsistence in the North Atlantic Realm

Conference Organisers and Monograph Editors: R. Housley and G. Coles

Maritime communications have played a vital role in shaping both human cultures and the biogeography of the North Atlantic Realm, a region containing discrete groups of islands separated by deep water. The aim of this volume is to explore the diversity of human environments and cultural adaptations present within the eastern part of the North Atlantic Realm, from Scotland and Norway in the East to Iceland in the West. The papers explore a number of key themes, including: the origins of flora and fauna of the North Atlantic Realm and the introduction of non-indigenous species in post-glacial periods; the various stages of human colonisation, from the explorations of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in the Hebridean islands to the Norse settlement of the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland during the 8th to 10th centuries AD, and how each stage of colonisation has had its own ecological characteristics and consequences for indigenous flora and fauna; the influence of climatic variability and extreme episodic events on local environments and human settlement patterns; and the establishment and development of human exchange and trade networks and how they have affected the range of resources available for human exploitation, from agricultural domesticates to the development of the Flemish sea fishery. These papers were presented at the first joint meeting of the Association for Environmental Archaeology (AEA) and the North Atlantic Bio-cultural Organisation (NABO), which was held at Glasgow University in March 2001. 288p, 101 b/w figs, 33 tbs (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 21, Oxbow Books, November 2004).

University of Surrey, Guildford, 14th-16th April 2000 (AEA Symposia No. 20)

The Environmental Archaeology of Industry

edited by Peter Murphy and Patricia E J Wiltshire

The environmental impact of industry is often profound and far-reaching, and has long been present in the cultural landscape, but research into the nature and relative importance of industrial activity has been somewhat neglected by environmental archaeologists. This volume presents eighteen papers deriving from a conference of the Association for Environmental Archaeology; they aim to bridge the gap between environmental and industrial archaeology. The papers address several major issues including: the effects of mining and smelting on sedimentation and vegetation in river catchments, the environmental impact of industries which are based on high-temperature processes and require reliable sources of fuel, such as metallurgy, pottery, glass and lime-making; the environmental impact of industrial processes based on biological raw materials, such as horn, bone, hides and shell; and the effects of industry on human health.

Contents: Setting the Scene (F Chambers); Reconstructing the environmental impact of past metallurgical activities (P D Marshall); An environmental approach to the archaeology of tin mining on Dartmoor (V Thorndycraft, D Pirriet and A G Brown); Wood-based industrial fuels and their environmental impact in lowland Britain (R Gale); The iron production industry and its extensive demand upon woodland resources: A case study from Creeton Quarry, Lincolnshire (J Cowgill); Tanning and horn-working at late- and post- mediaeval Bruges (A Ervynck, B Hillewaert, A Maes and M van Strydonck); Tawyers, tanners, horn trade and the mystery of the missing goat (U Albarella); Choice and use of shells for artefacts at Roman sites in the Eastern Desert of Egypt (S Hamilton-Dyer); Industrial activities – some suggested microstratigraphic signatures (R Macphail); Deriving information efficiently from surveys of artefact distribution (R S Shiel and S B Mohamed); Can we identify biological indicator groups for craft, industry and other activities? (A Hall and H Kenward); Archaeological arthropod faunas as indicators of past industrial activitie(J Schelvis); Charred mollusc shells as indicators of industrial activities (P Murphy); Saxon flax retting in river channels and the apparent lack of water pollution (M Robinson); The rise and fall of Rickets in England (S A Mays); A comparison of health in past rural, urban and industrial England (M Lewis); Determining occupation from skeletal remains – is it possible? (T Waldron and W Birch); The disposal and decomposition of human and animal remains(D W Hopkins and P E J Wiltshire). 208p, 54 b/w figs, 30 tbs (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 20, Oxbow Books, July 2003)

University of Newcastle, 15th-17th September 1998

Bailey, G., Charles, R., and Winder, N. (eds) (2000) Human Ecodynamics. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 19.

The papers in this book were first presented at the Association for Environmental Archaeology conference at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1998. The aim of the conference was to encourage contributors to examine the inter-relationships between classes of data that have increasingly come to be treated in isolation and to encourage thinking about theory in environmental archaeology. The papers go some way to achieving these aims; some focus on explicit developments of theory, others on bridging barriers between different fields of study or classes of evidence, while others are case studies with an ecodynamic component. Includes papers by: Nick Winder, Don Brothwell, Terry O’Connor, John Bintliff, Geoff Bailey, Geoffrey King, Isabelle Manighetti, Robert van de Noort, William Fletcher, Robert Shiel, M Jane Bunting, Richard Tipping, Robert Marchant, David Taylor, Alan Hamilton, Bryony Coles, Peter Mitchell, Ruth Charles, Rosemary Luff, Gill Campbell, Julie Hamilton, Marsha Levine, Katherine Whitwell, Leo Jeffcott, Andrew Millard, Megan Brickely. 160p, many figs (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 19, Oxbow Books 2000). ISBN 1842170015.

University of Bradford, 7th-10th September 1995

Nicholson, R. A. and O’Connor, T. P. (eds) (2000) People as an Agent of Environmental Change. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 16.

The papers in this volume revisit one of the concerns which dominated environmental archaeology through the 1960s and 1970s, namely the timing, nature and extent of human impact on the environment. The thirteen contributions reflect the diversity of approaches and ideas today and show how our understanding of the place of people in ecosystems is now more subtle. There are papers on palynological evidence from the Strymon Delta in Macedonia; prehistoric copper mining at Mount Gabriel, Ireland; fungal spores as anthropogenic indicators on Shetland; prehistoric human impact on the prehistoric environments of Orkney, North York Moors and the Mid-Devon landscape; mites as indicators of human impact in the Netherlands; the disappearance of Elmid `Riffle Beetles’ from lowland river systems in Britain; and case studies from further afield: palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Central Mexican Highlands; food plant availability in the Murchison Basin, Western Australia, prior to European arrival and Paleoindian expansion into South America. c.135p, figs & tbs (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 16, Oxbow Books 2000). ISBN 1842170023.

University of Durham, 18th-21st September 1993

Huntley, J. P. and Stallibrass, S (eds) (2000) Taphonomy and Interpretation. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 14.

Papers from the 1993 Association for Environmental Archaeology conference at Durham. Contents: Intepreting prehistoric cultivation using the combined evidence of plant remains and soils: an example from northern Scotland (S P Carter & T G Holden); Palynological taphonomy in understanding vegetation history and human impact in the Lairg area, Sutherland (M Smith); Pollen preservation analysis as a necessity in Holocene palynology (R Tipping); Dark earth and obscured stratigraphy (E J Sidell); Through a taphonomic glass, darkly: the importance of cereal cultivation in prehistoric Britain (P Rowley-Conwy); Otter (Lutra lutra L.) spraint: an investigation into possible sources of small fish bones at coastal archaeological sites (R A Nicholson); The butcher, the cook and the archaeologist (P R G Stokes); Detecting the nature of materials on farms from Coleptera: a number of taphonomic problems (D N Smith); Experimental taphonomy (L van Wijngaarden-Bakker); Why did the chicken dig a hole? Som observations on the excavation of dust baths by domestic fowl and their implications for archaeology (K Dobney, A Hall & M Hill); Arthropod remains as indicators for taphonomic processes: an assemblage from 19th century burials, Broerenkerk, Zwolle, the Netherlands (T Hakbijl); Context level interpretation of animal bones through statistical analysis (M Moreno Garcia & James Rackham; (Towards describing the nature of the chief taphonomic agent (B Wilson). c.120p (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology No. 14, Oxbow 2000). ISBN 184217004X.

University of Edinburgh, 25th-27th September 1992

Coles, G. and Mills, C. (eds) (1998) Life on the Edge: Human Settlement and Marginality. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 13.

Throughout history some areas have been less attractive for living and farming than others. These areas are identified as marginal because of environmental, economic or socio-political factors. How can we recognise marginality in the archaeological record? How particularly can environmental remains be interpreted? And how can we interpret human strategies when faced with a marginal environment? Most of the papers in this volume focus on Scottish contexts, reflecting their origins at the 1992 meeting of the Association for Environmental Archaeology in Edinburgh. However Greek pastoralism and the problems of food supply in the Egyptian and Syrian deserts are also examined.190p (Symposia of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 13, 1998). ISBN 1900188570.

University of York, 27th-29th September 1991

Hall, A. R. and Kenward, H. K. (eds) (1994) Urban-rural connexions: perspectives from environmental archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 12.

The potential of environmental evidence in the archaeological record for investigating the links between towns and their rural hinterlands is the focus of this volume. Most papers use evidence from Roman and Medieval Britain but there are also case studies from Paris, medieval Holland, and Oslo. Essential reading for specialists, this book also amply demonstrates the relevance of environmental evidence to central theoretical debates in historic archaeology. Contributors include: E Schia (Urban Oslo and its relation to rural production in the hinterland: An archaeological view); R I Macphail (The reworking of urban stratigraphy by human and natural processes); M Hill (Insect assemblages as evidence for past woodlands around York); H Kenward & E Allison (Rural origins of the urban insect fauna); H van Haaster (Plant resources and environment in late medieval Lübeck); M Maltby (The meat supply in Roman Dorchester and Winchester); Bob Wilson (Mortality patterns, animal husbandry and marketing in and around medieval and post-medieval Oxford); B Noddle (The under-rated goat); D Brothwell (On the possibility of urban-rural contrasts in human population palaeobiology); P Ciezar et al (In Suburbano: New data on the immediate surroundings of Roman and early medieval Paris); W Groenman van Waateringe (The menu of different classes in Dutch medieval society). 176p with fig & illus. (Oxbow Monograph 47, 1995). ISBN 0946897816.

University of Cambridge, 29th-30th September 1990

Luff, R. and Rowley-Conwy, P. (eds) (1994) Whither Environmental Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books. AEA Symposia No. 11.

Papers from the Association of Environmental Archaeology conference held at Selwyn College, Cambridge, with contributions from: R Luff & P Rowley-Conwy (The (dis)integration of environmental archaeology); P C Buckland & others (Comments on Lindow men); J J Taylor (Locating prehistoric wetland sites); N Winder (Designing a database for animal bones); J Pearce (The taphonomy of cooked bone); T Amorosi & others (Archaeozoological examination of the midden at Nesstofa, Reykjavik); C Gamble & G N Bailey (Impact of recovery techniques on faunal interpretation at Klithi); M Robinson (Excavation and environmental archaeology at Mingies Ditch); S J Dockrill & others (Tofts Ness, Sanday, Orkney: An integrated study of a buried Orcadian landscape); B J Kemp & others (Food for an Egyptian city: Tell el-Amarna); D Samuel (Cereal food processing in ancient Egypt); R Luff (Butchery at the workmen’s village, Tell el-Amarna); W Matthews & others (The imprint of living in an early Mesopotamian city). 224p with figs & illus. (Oxbow monograph 38, 1994). ISBN 0946897697.