This course examines the theory, techniques and practices of environmental archaeology, the sub-discipline that traces human/environment interactions. Case studies will be drawn from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia and the Indo-Pacific region, focusing on the evidence for humans as agents of broad ecological change, especially extinctions, and the effects of environments and environmental change on the course of culture change.  The increasingly important and controversial role of these studies in the contemporary world will also be discussed.  The course is an introduction to the subject and requires no previous scientific background.

On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Explain and critique the basic conceptual approaches, methodologies and research objectives of environmental archaeology from an international perspective.
• Critically examine a) the methodologies used to model past human interactions with environments b) assess the limits of the evidence used and c) contextualize the debates surrounding past human impacts on ecosystems and local ecology.
• Understand the contemporary significance of archaeological contributions to theories of past extinctions and culture change, as baselines for thinking on sustainable futures and concerns with environmental conservation.

Annotated bibliography (25%), essay(50%), debate contribution (15%) and laboratory/field notebook (10%).

Normally offered in alternate years
2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of laboratories/tutorials per week

Diamond, J. Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years, Vintage 1997.
Evans, J. and O'Connor, T. Environmental Archaeology: Principles and Methods, Sutton Publishing 1999.
Flannery, T. The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People, Reed Books, 1994.
Wilkinson, K. and Stevens, C. Environmental Archaeology: Approaches, Techniques and Applications, Tempus, 2003.