Cultural Biogeography of Plants and Animals
Claire Newton, Naomi Sykes
With the rise of global trade, plants and animals are finding it increasingly easy to transgress their natural ranges and become established in unfamiliar ecosystems, often impacting dramatically on ‘native’ landscapes and environment. Whilst ‘invasive species’ are currently an important ecological and political issue, they are not a recent invention: humans have been moving plants and animals, either purposefully or inadvertently, for millennia. By studying the ancient biogeography and cultural history of these species it is possible to gain important information about past patterns of human migration, trade, lifestyles and ideology.
For further information on the research within this theme see:
Publications
Linseele V. and Newton C. 2009. ‘Prehistoric anthropogenic impact on plant and animal communities of the Egyptian Nile Valley’, in Pre-Conference Proceedings of “Climate and Ancient Societies. Causes and Human responses. The Stine Rossel Memorial Conference”, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 21-23 October 2009.
Newton C., Terral J-F., and Ivorra S. 2006. ‘The Egyptian Olive (Olea europaea subsp. europaea) in the later first millennium BC: origins and history using the morphometric analysis of olive stones’. Antiquity, 80(308), 405-414.
O’Connor T. and Sykes, N. J. 2010. Extinctions and Invasions: A Social History of British Fauna. Oxford: Windgather.
Sykes, N. J. 2010. ‘Fallow deer’. In O’Connor T. and Sykes, N. J., eds, Extinctions and Invasions: A Social History of British Fauna. Oxford: Windgather.
Sykes, N. J. 2010. ‘The rabbit’. In O’Connor T. and Sykes, N. J., eds, Extinctions and Invasions: A Social History of British Fauna. Oxford: Windgather.
Sykes, N. 2010. ‘Worldviews in transition: the impact of exotic plants and animals on Iron Age/Romano-British landscapes’. Landscapes 10(2), 19-36.
Sykes, N., 2004. ‘The introduction of fallow deer to Britain: a zooarchaeological perspective’. Environmental Archaeology, 9(1), 75-83.
Terral J-F, Newton C., Ivorra I., Tengberg M., Tito C. and Pintaud J.-C. (in press). ‘De la diversité actuelle aux vestiges archéologiques du palmier dattier (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Développement de descripteurs géométriques des graines de dates’, in Proceedings of the "Séminaire du Réseau Biotechnologies Végétales du Palmier Dattier", Montpellier 18-20 November 2008.
Terral J.-F., Durand A., Newton C. and Ivorra S. 2009. ‘Archéo-biologie de la domestication de l’olivier en Méditerranée occidentale: de la remise en cause d’une histoire dogmatique à la révélation de son irrigation médiévale’. Études héraultaises, 233, 13-25.