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Introduction: Historical Archaeology and Environment

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Book cover Historical Archaeology and Environment

Abstract

The creation of this volume was motivated, on the one hand, by the lack of available studies involving the environment in historical archaeology and, on the other, by the dramatic climate changes that are occurring across the planet and the global efforts to face them. With this in mind, our intent was to offer new thoughts on the subject and, by doing so, contribute to the development of new approaches, debates and bodies of knowledge that involve historical archaeology and environment.

In this introduction, we also hope to update the discussions and approaches that may be helpful to those debating this topic. As we understand it, an array of new forms of knowledge is emerging in the discipline that might be potentially relevant to our interests. Following an historical archaeological approach to environmental changes, all the chapters deal with the main issues relevant to this discussion, including (1) theoretical and methodological approaches to the environment in historical archaeology, which intend to offer innovative and substantial analytical venues for the study of the environment through the lens of historical archaeology; (2) studies on environmental historical archaeology, which include a range of case studies that demonstrate how the human–nature relationship has evolved historically and globally; and (3) historical archaeology and the Anthropocene, where we found studies of environmental changes and the impact of human activity on the environment that affect us today and will continue to so in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Museu Nacional, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Marcos André Torres de Souza

  2. Graduate Program in Anthropology, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Diogo Menezes Costa

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  1. Marcos André Torres de Souza
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  2. Diogo Menezes Costa
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Museu Nacional, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Marcos André Torres de Souza

  2. Graduate Program in Anthropology, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Diogo Menezes Costa

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de Souza, M.A.T., Costa, D.M. (2018). Introduction: Historical Archaeology and Environment. In: Souza, M., Costa, D. (eds) Historical Archaeology and Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90857-1_1

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