Regional Power and Local Ecologies: Accumulated Population Trends and Human Impacts in the Northern Fertile Crescent

Lawrence, D.; Philip, G.; Wilkinson, K.; Buylaert, J.P.; Murray, A.S.; Thompson, W.; Wilkinson, T.J.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.06.026

Regional Power and Local Ecologies: Accumulated Population Trends and Human Impacts in the Northern Fertile Crescent Thumbnail

Authors

Professor Daniel Lawrence dan.lawrence@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Graham Philip graham.philip@durham.ac.uk
Professor

K. Wilkinson

J.P. Buylaert

A.S. Murray

W. Thompson

T.J. Wilkinson

Abstract

Archaeological data tend to be gathered at the local level: human agency also operates at this scale. By combining data from multiple surveys conducted within a larger area, it is possible to use local datasets to obtain a perspective on regional trends in settlement, population, and human activity. Here we employ data derived from nine archaeological surveys in the northern and western regions of the Fertile Crescent (west and north Syria, SE Turkey, and northern Iraq) to show how local trends aggregate to create a general proxy record of settlement and regional population. In addition, we use geoarchaeological data from a region extending from Homs in the west to northern Iraq in the east to outline historical trends in alluvial fill development. Both settlement and alluviation trends are then related to palaeoclimate proxy data from Soreq Cave and Lake Van. Settlement, geoarchaeological signatures and climate are then examined side by side in order to assess long-term human interactions.

Citation

Lawrence, D., Philip, G., Wilkinson, K., Buylaert, J., Murray, A., Thompson, W., & Wilkinson, T. (2017). Regional Power and Local Ecologies: Accumulated Population Trends and Human Impacts in the Northern Fertile Crescent. Quaternary International, 437(Part B), 60-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.06.026

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 7, 2015
Online Publication Date	Jul 15, 2015
Publication Date	May 5, 2017
Deposit Date	Jun 9, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Jul 15, 2016
Journal	Quaternary International
Print ISSN	1040-6182
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	437
Issue	Part B
Pages	60-81
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.06.026
Keywords	Fertile crescent, Local ecology, Landscape archaeology, Settlement archaeology, Scale.

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Copyright Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Quaternary International. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Quaternary International, Volume 437, Part B, 5 May 2017, Pages 60–81, 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.06.026.