Human Behavioral Ecology and Coastal Environments - (Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology) (Hardcover)

About the Book

In this volume, contributors apply human behavioral ecology
theoretical models to coastal environments around the globe and to the use of
coastal resources by past human societies, showing how researchers can gain
insights about human behavior in these settings.

Book Synopsis

Examples of a research approach that sheds light on
coastal societies in the past

In
this volume, contributors apply human behavioral ecology theoretical models to
coastal environments around the globe and to the use of coastal resources by
past human societies. Evidence demonstrates that coastlines and islands are
dynamic environments that were important in early human migrations, and this
volume shows how researchers can gain insights about human behavior in these
settings through its critical regional reviews and detailed local case studies.

The
volume begins by introducing the importance of theory in the reconstruction of
human behavior and provides examples of traditional foraging models.
Contributors then offer perspectives from North, Central, and South America,
the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Polynesia. They discuss unique
challenges faced by coastal societies, including extreme seasonality, patchy
resource distribution, natural hazards, balancing coastal and terrestrial
resource needs, aquatic technological innovation, and multiscale environmental
change.

Human Behavioral
Ecology and Coastal Environments demonstrates that exploring
decision-making and cultural behaviors is key to understanding how humans have
lived in and related to these environments. Through its application of human
behavioral ecology models, this volume sheds light on the evolving adaptations
of societies in a variety of coastal contexts through time and across space.

A
volume in the series Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology,
edited by Victor D. Thompson and Scott M. Fitzpatrick

About the Author

Heather B. Thakar is assistant professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University. Carola Flores Fernandez is professor in the School of Archaeology at Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt and associated researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones, Chile.