Settlement Ecology of the Ancient Americas

In this exciting new volume several leading researchers use settlement ecology, an emerging approach to the study of archaeological settlements, to examine the spatial arrangement of prehistoric settlement patterns across the Americas. Positioned at the intersection of geography, human ecology, anthropology, economics and archaeology, this diverse collection showcases successful applications of the settlement ecology approach in archaeological studies and also discusses associated techniques such as GIS, remote sensing and statistical and modeling applications. Using these methodological advancements the contributors investigate the specific social, cultural and environmental factors which mediated the placement and arrangement of different sites. Of particular relevance to scholars of landscape and settlement archaeology, Settlement Ecology of the Ancient Americas provides fresh insights not only into past societies, but also present and future populations in a rapidly changing world. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of tables List of contributors Part I Overview 1 Settlement ecology of the ancient Americas: an introduction Part II North America 2 The ecology of changing settlement patterns among Piedmont Village Tradition communities in southeastern North America, AD 800–1600 3 Settlement ecology at Singer-Moye: Mississippian history and demography in the southeastern United States 4 Settlement ecology in the precontact North American Southwest Part III Central America 5 Political-economic strategies and settlement ecology in the Mesoamerican Gulf Lowlands: Olmec, Epi-Olmec, and Classic Period settlement in the El Mesón area of the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin, Veracruz, Mexico 6 Climate, ecology, and social change in prehispanic northwestern Mesoamerica 7 Agrarian settlement ecology in the Classic Maya Lowlands: a comparative analysis of La Joyanca (Guatemala) and Río Bec (Mexico) 8 Identifying settlement variability in the Isthmo-Colombian Area: alternative models from the Upper General Valley of the Diquís archaeological subregion Part IV South America 9 Chanka settlement ecology: disentangling settlement decision-making during a time of risk in the Andean highlands 10 Encountering forgotten landscapes: water, climate, and two millennia of settlement location choices in the Ica-Nasca region of southern coastal Peru 11 The organics of settlement patterns in Amazonia Index In this exciting new volume several leading researchers use settlement ecology, an emerging approach to the study of archaeological settlements, to examine the spatial arrangement of prehistoric settlement patterns across the Americas. Positioned at the intersection of geography, human ecology, anthropology, economics and archaeology, this diverse collection showcases successful applications of the settlement ecology approach in archaeological studies and also discusses associated techniques such as GIS, remote sensing and statistical and modeling applications. Using these methodological advancements the contributors investigate the specific social, cultural and environmental factors which mediated the placement and arrangement of different sites. Of particular relevance to scholars of landscape and settlement archaeology, this book provides fresh insights not only into past societies, but also present and future populations in a rapidly changing world "How did ancient societies of the Americas decide where to settle on the landscape? What were the specific social, cultural and environmental factors which mediated the placement and arrangement of different kinds of sites? In this volume, leading researchers address these questions by utilizing a settlement ecology approach for understanding the spatial arrangement of prehistoric settlement patterns across the Americas"--Provided by publisher