The Colonization of Unfamiliar Landscapes : The Archaeology of Adaptation

The process of familiarization with and adaptation to unfamiliar landscapes has been integral to colonization and settlement throughout human history. Yet the workings of this process - its social, psychological, and environmental components, the influence of the process on later history, and indeed the full extent to which humans can truly know their habitat, are not well understood. This innovative and important volume presents the archaeological and anthropological foundations of the landscape learning process. Contributions apply the related fields of ethnography, cognitive psychology, and historical archaeology to the issues of individual exploration, development of trail systems, folk knowledge, social identity, and the role of the frontier in the growth of the modern world. A series of case studies examines the archaeological evidence for and interpretations of landscape learning from the movement of the first pre-modern humans into Europe, peoplings of the Old and New World at the end of the Ice Age, and colonization of the Pacific, to the English colonists at Jamestown. The final chapters summarize the implications of the landscape learning idea for our understanding of human history and set out a framework for future research. Understanding initial colonization is essential to addressing questions of how and why we live where we do. This significant and wide-ranging collection of work moves the theme away from the chronological curiosities of firsts and oldests into a view in which it is a process with characteristics and lessons of its own. COLONIZATION OF UNFAMILIAR LANDSCAPES 2 CONTENTS 6 PART II Case studies 97 6 Landscape learning and the earliest peopling of Europe 99 7 The social context of landscape learning and the lateglacial– early postglacial recolonization of the British Isles 116 8 “Where do we go from here?” Modelling the decision-making process during exploratory dispersal 130 9 Deerslayers, pathfinders, and icemen: origins of the European Neolithic as seen from the frontier 144 10 Entering uncharted waters: models of initial colonization in Polynesia 169 11 The weather is fine, wish you were here, because I’m the last one alive: “learning” the environment in the English New World colonies 190 PART III Advances in theory and method 201 12 Colonizing new landscapes: archaeological detectability of the first phase 203 13 Lessons in landscape learning 222 Index 242 7 FIGURES 8 TABLES 10 CONTRIBUTORS 12 FOREWORD 14 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 18 EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION 20 DATING ABBREVIATIONS 24 Part I CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS 26 1 KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF COLONIZATION 28 Using knowledge approaches in archaeological interpretation and application 45 2 HUMAN WAYFINDING AND COGNITIVE MAPS 50 Cognitive maps as wayfinding tools 56 Environmental legibility 59 Summary 65 3 COLONIZATION OF NEW LAND BY HUNTER-GATHERERS 69 Landscape knowledge: the ethnographic record 70 Conclusions 79 References 81 4 TRACKING THE ROLE OF PATHWAYS IN THE EVOLUTION OF A HUMAN LANDSCAPE 84 Pathway development 87 Life on the path: behavioral and cultural variability 90 5 MINING RUSHES AND LANDSCAPE LEARNING IN THE MODERN WORLD 106 Technological knowledge 111 Social and cultural knowledge 116 References 119 Part II CASE STUDIES 122 6 LANDSCAPE LEARNING AND THE EARLIEST PEOPLING OF EUROPE 124 7 THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF LANDSCAPE LEARNING AND THE LATEGLACIAL–EARLY POSTGLACIAL RECOLONIZATION OF THE BRITISH ISLES 141 Landscape learning as a social process 143 References 152 8 “WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?” 155 Integrating predictions of cultural pre-adaptations with models of exploratory mobility 167 9 DEERSLAYERS, PATHFINDERS, AND ICEMEN 169 The Iceman and other Bumppos 187 10 ENTERING UNCHARTED WATERS 194 11 THE WEATHER IS FINE, WISH YOU WERE HERE, BECAUSE I’M THE LAST ONE ALIVE 215 Part III ADVANCES IN THEORY AND METHOD 226 12 COLONIZING NEW LANDSCAPES 228 Archaeological detection 235 13 LESSONS IN LANDSCAPE LEARNING 247 Notes 264 References 265 INDEX 267 The Archaeology of Adaptation This volume presents the archaeological & anthropological foundations of the landscape learning process. A series of case studies examines interpretations of landscape learning from the movements of pre-modern humans into Europe, post-glacial migration into America & the English colonists at Jamestown