Finding a “Living Archaeology” among Tropical Trees: The Potential of Multidisciplinary Dendroarchaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Entangled Legacies: Human, Forest, and Tree Dynamics" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Tropical forests have often been synonymous with 'wilderness' in popular discourse. However, the last couple of decades of research in archaeological, palaeoecological and historical ecology have revealed that these ecosystems have actually been intensively managed by our species from at least 45,000 years ago. This necessitates re-evaluation of traditional ecological and conservation approaches across the tropics. Here, we highlight how the key constituents of tropical forests, trees, can constitute a ‘living archaeology’, with their rings, growth patterns and chemistry recording long-term human-environment interactions. Focusing on the case study of pre- and post-colonial forest management in the Amazon Basin, we discuss how combined application of stable isotope analysis, dendrochronology, ancient plant genetics, and Geographic Information Systems techniques are providing new insights into the lasting legacies of changing human land use and socio-ecological changes. We argue that this method holds much potential across the tropics and emphasizes the significance of tropical trees from the perspective of cultural as well as natural heritage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Entangled Legacies: Human, Forest, and Tree Dynamics   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39144.0