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Environmental Sampling in Mediterranean Archaeology

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

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Introduction

The Mediterranean region today possesses a large number of heterogeneous microenvironments. Hot, dry summers and wet, cool winters are common, but by no means invariable, while a high degree of variation in lithology, surface geology, and topographic relief produces fragmented vegetation zones ranging from desert to alpine, with abundant interfaces between zones. Overall, there is a pronounced altitudinal climate gradient, with upland regions often cooler and wetter. There is good reason to believe that environmental parameters had a strong influence on where ancient people chose to settle, the strategies they pursued in their management of crops and domestic animals, and the long-term success of these symbiotic human/plant/animal communities.

By definition, the process of environmental sampling involves taking samples, characterizing them according to certain parameters (size, age, species), and extrapolating from them to a larger population, in order to permit the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Logan Simpson Design, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Seth Button

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  1. Seth Button
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Correspondence to Seth Button .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Claire Smith

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Button, S. (2014). Environmental Sampling in Mediterranean Archaeology. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1546

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1546

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0426-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0465-2

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