Between land and sea in Puerto Rico : climates, coastal landscapes and human occupations in the mid-Holocene Caribbean
Modern human-induced climate change will have a particularly adverse impact on coastal non-industrial societies. Understanding how such changes have occurred in the past can provide better tools to address social vulnerability in these contexts. The main goal of this thesis is to consider how past non-industrial societies responded to environmental change and which conditions affected their sustainability. Here I investigate Mid-Holocene climate change and its relationship to the earliest human occupations in the Caribbean Archipelago (pre-Arawak period), using the site of Angostura (Puerto Rico) as a case study. On-site geoarchaeological tests â including microartefact and bulk-sediment analyses â were selected to study site-formation processes. Off-site sediment cores were collected and studied to address sea-level and landscape change. Archaeomalacological analysis assessed subsistence behaviour and landscape ecology. An assemblage of 18 radiocarbon dates was used to provide chronological context. To consider the dynamic and complex relationship between people and the environment, I apply the Theory of Adaptive Change (TAC) as a model to articulate scale-shifting and facilitate intra-scale comparison
Rivera-Collazo, I.
Between land and sea in Puerto Rico : climates, coastal landscapes and human occupations in the mid-Holocene Caribbean. Modern human-induced climate change will have a particularly adverse impact on coastal non-industrial societies. Understanding how such changes have occurred in the past can provide better tools to address social vulnerability in these contexts. The main goal of this thesis is to consider how past non-industrial societies responded to environmental change and which conditions affected their sustainability. Here I investigate Mid-Holocene climate change and its relationship to the earliest human occupations in the Caribbean Archipelago (pre-Arawak period), using the site of Angostura (Puerto Rico) as a case study. On-site geoarchaeological tests â including microartefact and bulk-sediment analyses â were selected to study site-formation processes. Off-site sediment cores were collected and studied to address sea-level and landscape change. Archaeomalacological analysis assessed subsistence behaviour and landscape ecology. An assemblage of 18 radiocarbon dates was used to provide chronological context. To consider the dynamic and complex relationship between people and the environment, I apply the Theory of Adaptive Change (TAC) as a model to articulate scale-shifting and facilitate intra-scale comparison
land_sea climate coastal_landscape human_occupation mid_holocene caribbean modern_human induced climate_change particularly adverse impact coastal non industrial_society change_occur past provide better tool address social vulnerability context main_goal consider past non industrial_society respond environmental_change condition affect sustainability investigate mid_holocene climate_change relationship early human_occupation caribbean archipelago pre period use site case_study site geoarchaeological test include bulk sediment analysis select study site_formation process off_site sediment core collect studied address sea_level landscape_change analysis assess subsistence behaviour landscape ecology assemblage radiocarbon_date use provide_chronological context consider dynamic complex_relationship people environment apply theory adaptive change model articulate scale shifting facilitate intra scale comparison