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Voyages of Discovery The Archaeology of Islands
Scott M. Fitzpatrick, ed.
ISBN: 0-275-97947-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-97947-8
328 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 4/30/2004
List Price: $87.95 (UK Sterling Price: £60.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: Voyages of Discovery is the first major synthesis of island archaeological research worldwide. The work brings together experts in the field who are concerned with analyzing islands and island societies from a variety of different archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Major topics include interaction spheres, exchange, human impacts, and theoretical models.

Over the past few decades there has been an increased interest in the archaeology of islands. Archaeological approaches to studying islands and island societies have often mirrored those of biologists because islands are relatively isolated, contain unique species or remnant populations, have an impoverished terrestrial ecology, provide opportunities to investigate the effects of animals (e.g., humans) on ecosystems, lend themselves to manipulative experiments, and have implications for helping us understand environmental and social changes on a global level from a microcosmic view. Although islands can be considered somewhat unique compared to mainland environments, environmental and cultural factors played important roles in how islands and islanders developed over time.

The field of island archaeology contributes to understanding the fluid boundaries (both physical and mental) that existed for islanders prehistorically and how they adapted to their island world. This book explores a wide range of issues including the impacts humans have had on island ecosystems, the intentional movement of goods, resources, and animals across vast distances, and ways in which archaeologists analyze islands and island societies methodologically and theoretically.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
    List of Contributors
    Introduction
    Synthesizing Island Archaeology by Scott M. Fitzpatrick
    Humans and Their Island Environments
    Flexible Strategies for Resource Defense on the Northern Channel Islands of California: An Agent Based Model by Douglas J. Kennett and Robert A. Clifford
    Human Impacts on Ancient Environments: A Case Study from California's Northern Channel Islands by Jon M. Erlandson, Torben C. Rick, and Rene Vellanoweth
    Prehistoric Resource Depletion in the Northern West Indies by Lisbeth A. Carlson and William F. Keegan
    Island Interregional Interaction
    Population Dynamics in the Prehistory of Okinawa by Hiroto Takamiya
    Inter-Island Exchange in Micronesia: A Case of Monumental Proportions Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Brian Diveley
    Where the Wild Things Are: Prehistoric Animal Translocation in the Circum New Guinea Archipelago by J. Peter White
    Island Societies Aren't Always Insular: Tlingit Territories in the Alexander Archipelago and the Adjacent Alaska Mainland by Madonna Moss
    Methodological, Theoretical, and Historical Approaches to Island Archaeology
    Island Archaeology and Units of Analysis in the Study of Ancient Caribbean Societies by L. Antonio Curet
    Island Models of Reticulate Evolution: The "Ancient Lagoons" Hypothesis by John Edward Terrell
    Insularity in the Crossroads of Island Southeast Asia by Peter Lape
    Mediterranean Island Prehistory: What's Different and What's New? by John Cherry
    The Study of Islands and Island Societies
    Islands of Ambivalence by Atholl Anderson
    Islands Out of Time? Toward an Analytical Framework by Colin Renfrew
About the Author: SCOTT M. FITZPATRICK received his Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Oregon. He has conducted fieldwork and research in the Pacific (Palau, Pohnpei, American Samoa, Easter Island), Caribbean (Barbados, Carriacou) and East Asia (Okinawa). His primary interests include archaeology, colonization and migration, maritime adaptations, trade and exchange systems, culture contact, and the evolution of complex societies. Dr. Fitzpatrick has published articles in Antiquity, Archaeology in Oceania, Journal of Archaeological Science, Journal of Ethnobiology, and Radiocarbon.
LCC Class: 909
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