Table of Contents

Foreward, by Carole L. Crumley Human and Material Factors in Historical Ecology Historical Ecology: Premises and Postulates, by William L. Balee Ecological History and Historical Ecology: Diachronic Modeling Versus Historical Explanation, by Neil L. Whitehead A Historical-Ecological Perspective on Epidemic Disease, by Linda A. Newson Forged in Fire: History, Land, and Anthropogenic Fire, by Stephen J. Pyne Diachronic Ecotones and Anthropogenic Landscapes in Amazonia: Contesting the Consciousness of Conservation, by Darrell A. Posey Metaphor and Metaphorism: Some Thoughts on Environmental Metahistory, by Elizabeth Graham Regional Research and Landscape Analyses in Historical Ecology The Rat That Ate Louisiana: Aspects of Historical Ecology in the Mississippi River Delta, by Tristam R. Kidder Cultural, Human, and Historical Ecology in the Great Basin: Fifty Years of Ideas About Ten Thousand Years of Prehistory, by Robert L. Bettinger Ancient and Modern Hunter-Gatherers of Lowland South America: An Evolutionary Problem, by Anna C. Roosevelt Potential Versus Actual Vegetation: Human Behavior in a Landscape Medium, by Ted Gragson Domestication as a Historical and Symbolic Process: Wild Gardens and Cultivated Forests in the Ecuadorian Amazon, by Laura Rival Independent Yet Interdependent "Isode": The Historical Ecology of Traditional Piaroa Settlement Pattern, by Stanford Zent Whatever Happened to the Stone Age? Steel Tools and Yanomami Historical Ecology, by R. Brian Ferguson Missionary Activity and Indian Labor in the Upper Rio Negro of Brazil, 1680--1980: A Historical-Ecological Approach, by Janet M. Chernela Cultural Persistence and Environmental Change: The Otomi of the Valle del Mezquital, by Elinor G. K. Melville The Great Cow Explosion in Rajasthan, by Carol Henderson The Historical Ecology of Thailand: Increasing Thresholds of Human, by Environmental Impact from Prehistory to the Present Leslie E. Sponsel Epilogue, by T. R. Kidder and William Balee

Promotional Information

Bridging the divide between social and natural sciences, the contributors to this book use a holistic perspective to explore the relationships between humans and their environment. Exploring short- and long-term local and global change, eighteen specialists in anthropology, geography, history, ethnobiology, and related disciplines present new perspectives on historical ecology. The contributors focus on traditional societies where lands are most at risk from the incursions of complex, state-level societies.

About the Author

William L. Balee is professor of anthropology at Tulane University and author of Footprints of the Forest: Ka'apor Ethnobotany - The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazon People (Columbia).

Reviews

"This is an important and impressive collection." - Stephen Nugent, Antiquity "I found this book quite fascinating; it will appeal to advanced undergraduates and the research communities of geography, ecology, anthropology, and history." - Journal of Ecology