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Tables SI1, SI2 and SI3

Human beings are an active component of every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. Although our local impact on the evolution of these ecosystems has been undeniable and extensively documented, it remains unclear precisely how our activities are altering them, in part because ecosystems are dynamic systems structured by complex, non-linear feedback processes and cascading effects. We argue that it is only by studying human–environment interactions over timescales that greatly exceed the lifespan of any individual human (i.e., the deep past or longue durée), we can hope to fully understand such processes and their implications. In this article, we identify some of the key challenges faced in integrating long-term datasets with those of other areas of sustainability science, and suggest some useful ways forward. Specifically, we (a) highlight the potential of the historical sciences for sustainability science, (b) stress the need to integrate theoretical frameworks wherein humans are seen as inherently entangled with the environment, and (c) propose formal computational modelling as the ideal platform to overcome the challenges of transdisciplinary work across large, and multiple, geographical and temporal scales. Our goal is to provide a manifesto for an integrated scientific approach to the study of socio-ecological systems over the long term.

The preceding chapter sets out a brief overview of the different ways in which ‘transitions’ are approached in the scientific literature, from the point of view of both the natural and the social sciences. The theoretical aspects have been emphasized. The objective here is to render this concept operative for studying the changes in ‘settlement systems’ as it is possible to observe them, on the local scale of a microregion as well as on that of the planet. Ever since modern man has existed, h...

70 000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa to colonize the world. 6,000 years ago, he founded the first cities. Today, in the era of city networks, he is creating increasingly wide and complex metropolitan regions. From prehistory to the era of metropolises, man has occupied the earth's space in an infinite variety of ways, under the influence of a multitude of factors. How did the Bantu populate a space already occupied by the Pygmies in equatorial Africa? How were cities born in the Bronze Age? How did the pueblo society develop and then disappear in the United States? What were the effects of Romanization on the settlement of southern Gaul? How did the village system emerge around the year 1000 in Europe? This book addresses twelve major changes in global settlement formalized as “transitions”. What is a transition? How can it be identified in the empirical field? Archaeologists, historians, linguists, and geographers combine their efforts to construct, analyze, and compare models of settlement transition in world history. Observing the particular, they seek the universal. This book proposes a method for understanding the laws of human settlement in the very long term.

We are both fortunate and burdened to be discussing here one of the most famous archaeological districts of the world: the central Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado, USA. Fortunate, because generally good preservation and visibility of the archaeological record, the possibility of tree-ring dating and climate reconstruction based on tree rings and pollen, and a long history of intense investigation combine to provide a well understood, finely resolved dataset. Burdened, because so mu...

I’m most interested in trying to use the archaeological record as a source for examining the ways that humans embed themselves within ecosystems and ultimately change them. Archaeology provides the time depth to look at these questions. In this way the past can tell us where we have come from, and provide a useful way to look toward the future.

To fully understand not only the past, but also the trajectories, of human societies, we need a more dynamic view of human social systems. Agent-based modeling (ABM), which can create fine-scale models of behavior over time and space, may reveal important, general patterns of human activity. Agent-Based Modeling for Archaeology is the first ABM textbook designed for researchers studying the human past. Appropriate for scholars from archaeology, the digital humanities, and other social sciences, this book offers novices and more experienced ABM researchers a modular approach to learning ABM and using it effectively.Readers will find the necessary background, discussion of modeling techniques and traps, references, and algorithms to use ABM in their own work. They will also find engaging examples of how other scholars have applied ABM, ranging from the study of the intercontinental migration pathways of early hominins, to the weather–crop–population cycles of the American Southwest, to the trade networks of Ancient Rome. This textbook provides the foundations needed to simulate the complexity of past human societies, offering researchers a richer understanding of the past—and likely future—of our species.

International audience

International audience