Terraforming and Monumentality in Hunter-Gatherer-Fisher Landscapes

Monumental constructions, whether economic, political or symbolic in their origin and use, are integral to how hunter-gatherer-fisher (HGF) peoples have constructed and shaped their worlds over much of the Holocene. For this symposium we bring together studies from various areas of the globe to theorize about these practices, and to account for the complex and varied ways in which large-scale features were constructed and terraforming was practiced in HGF societies. While monumentality has been well-studied in early agricultural and later contexts, the record of HGF monuments is clearly extensive, and attests to a more complex engagement with material production, the construction of place, of identity, and of history than is recognized in the broader discipline. We seek to provide a set of theoretical and methodological tools to address this record.