Examining the Impacts of Non-human Animals on Sequences of Agricultural Change

Summary

Historical sequences of agricultural change are influenced by several key factors. While much attention has been paid to the political context of agricultural production, as well as environmental changes brought about by certain techniques, less has been paid to the active manipulation of productive environments by non-human animals. Within the context of some recent theoretical advances in archaeology and ecology, it has become apparent that animals - intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans - modify the context under which agricultural production occurs. These modified landscapes are inherited by subsequent generations of producers who are challenged to make minor, and sometimes major, adjustments based on changing landscapes. In this paper, we highlight these processes using case studies from historic North America (e.g., earthworms) and the pre-European Pacific (e.g., rats and birds). We demonstrate that the ecosystem modifications and services provided by animals created a particular kind of path dependency that had ramifications for past peoples, and continues to have consequences for present producers.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20407