Considering the Whole Environment in the Arctic Past

• Autores: Briana Nan Doering
• Localización: Current anthropology: A world journal of the sciences of man, ISSN 0011-3204, Vol. 66, Nº. 2, 2025, págs. 232-256
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Archaeologists are increasingly interested in demonstrating their relevance in climate change adaptation research. With a long view of human history, a deep understanding of environmental records, and increasingly sophisticated theoretical models, archaeologists are indeed well positioned to offer applications of their research in important problems of the twenty-first century. Before launching into applied work, however, researchers should consider subtle and overt ways that archaeological models perpetuate an oppositional and even deterministic framework for past human-environment relationships. Models from Indigenous archaeology in recent decades have highlighted the utility of non-Western paradigms in archaeological research around the world. Using an example from Subarctic archaeology, the relatively recent Dene transition and migration, this paper considers the ways hunter-gatherer archaeologists can move past explanations that privilege the natural world to include social, oral historic, and traditional ecological knowledge for a study of the whole environment, inclusive of natural and social variables. A more nuanced, deep, and holistic view of human-environment relationships is necessary to contribute to the complex challenges climate change will bring.