/pdf/the-conservation-atlas-of-tropical-forests-africa-47btc6srho.pdf

The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa

An ethnoarchaeological study of cooking installations in rural Uzbekistan: development of a new method for identification of fuel sources

Holocene semi-arid oak woodlands in the Irano-Anatolian region of Southwest Asia: natural or anthropogenic?

The taphonomy and preservation of wood and dung ashes found in archaeological cooking installations: case studies from Iron Age Israel

The initial domestication of plants and animals and the subsequent emergence of agricultural economies in different world regions represent a major evolutionary transition in human history. Here, two alternative and antithetical explanatory frameworks for initial domestication are compared—one based on diet breadth modeling and the other on niche construction theory. This side-by-side comparison of these two alternative explanations follows them through the basic sequence of stages involved in the scientific method: hypothesis formulation, plausibility consideration, and actual testing of the two hypothetical explanations by measuring their relative strengths with the available archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from two independent centers of domestication in the Americas—eastern North America and the Neotropics. Although focused on the question of initial domestication, this comparative analysis also addresses the broader issues of the appropriate role of theory in the development of hypotheses of past human behavior and the proper use of the scientific method in archaeological inference. Explanations based on diet breadth modeling are found to have a number of conceptual, theoretical, and methodological flaws; approaches based on niche construction theory are far better supported by the available evidence in the two regions considered.

A Comparison of Niche Construction Theory and Diet Breadth Models as Explanatory Frameworks for the Initial Domestication of Plants and Animals

The ethnoarchaeology of firewood management in the Fang villages of Equatorial Guinea, central Africa: Implications for the interpretation of wood fuel remains from archaeological sites

En aquest article presentem els procediments i els primers resultats de l’estudi arqueobotanic i tecnologic de les restes de fusta, carbo i fibres vegetals localitzats en el jaciment prehistoric de la Cova des Pas, a Ferreries (Menorca). El material analitzat forma part de diferents objectes arqueologics recuperats a la cova: carbons, branquillons de fusta i diversos objectes manufacturats en fusta i fibres vegetals.

Estudi arqueobotànic i tecnològic de les restes de fusta, carbó i fibres vegetals de la Cova des Pas (Ferreries, Menorca)

espanolEl objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una vision amplia de la antracologia a traves de diferentes trabajos para explorar las diversas aproximaciones teoricas y metodologicas de esta disciplina. De este modo mostraremos el interes de la antracologia como medio para obtener datos sobre comportamiento humano y sobre aspectos culturales y economicos de las sociedades preteritas. Analizaremos las diferentes aproximaciones de la disciplina a traves de tres ejemplos: El Abric Romani que presenta una secuencia del Paleolitico, el Talayot de ca's Canar un contexto de caracter social y/o ceremonial de la Edad del Hierro y un horno de resina de epoca romana. Cada uno de los contextos y periodos a los que estan adscritos proporcionan una perspectiva de la antracologia diferente que nos permite realizar inferencias sobre los distintos usos de la madera y las diversas comunidades vegetales en el NE de la Peninsula Iberica y de las Illes Balears. EnglishThe main objective of this paper is to offer a wide perspective of anthracology (charcoal analysis) through different studies in order to explore the diverse theoretical and methodological approaches of the discipline. We illustrate the interest of anthracology as a way to create datasets related to human behaviour and to cultural and economic aspects of past societies. We will analyse the different approaches of the discipline through three examples: The Abric Romani site with a Palaeolithic sequence, the Talayot de ca's Canar a social and/or ceremonial context and a roman gum oven. Each of these contexts and chronological periods provide a specific anthracological perspective which allows suggesting inferences in relation to different wood uses and different vegetal communities at the NE of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. euskaraLan honen helburua antrakologiaren ikuspegi zabal bat eskaintzea da lan desberdinen aurkezpenaren bidez, diziplina honen hurbilketa teoriko eta metodologiko desberdinak aztertzeko. Honetarako antrakologiaren interesa erakutsiko dugu izakiaren portaera eta iraganeko gizarteen aspektu kultural eta ekonomikoei buruz datuak lortzeko tresna moduan. Diziplina honen posibilitateak hiru adibideekin aztertuko ditugu: Paleolitikoko sekuentzia bat aurkezten duen Abric Romani, ca's Canar-en Burdin Aroko Talaiota, izaera sozial eta/edo zeremonial bateko testuinguru batekin eta Antzinaroko erretxin labe bat. Testuinguru eta garai bakoitzak antrakologiaren hainbat ikuspuntu eskaintzen digute eta hauek, Iberiar Penintsularen ipar-ekialdeko eta Balearen Uharteetako egurraren eta hainbat landare komunitateen erabilerari buruzko ondorioak lortzeko aukera ematen digute.

Ethel Allué Martí

Papers

The ethnoarchaeology of firewood management in the Fang villages of Equatorial Guinea, central Africa: Implications for the interpretation of wood fuel remains from archaeological sites

Estudi arqueobotànic i tecnològic de les restes de fusta, carbó i fibres vegetals de la Cova des Pas (Ferreries, Menorca)

Perspectivas teóricas y metodológicas en antracología para el estudio de las relaciones entre las sociedades humanas y su entorno