Enduring Records: The Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Wetlands: 15 (WARP Occasional Papers) - Hardcover

Purdy, Barbara A.

9781842170489: Enduring Records: The Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Wetlands: 15 (WARP Occasional Papers)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1842170481 ISBN 13: 9781842170489

Publisher: Oxbow Books, 2001

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xiii + 302pp, inc. plates, figs & plans, laminated pictorial boards, A4

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Review:

Offers fascinating reading for everyone interested in archaeology. It is a must for those teaching archaeology.'--Richard D. Daugherty "Geoarchaeology "

... this is a well-produced volume providing a comprehensive summary of diverse aspects of work on wetland archaeological sites from around the world.'--Benjamin R Gearey "The Holocene 13, 2003 "

The eclectic mixture of papers in this volume serves to illustrate the diversity of wetland archaeology... The editor is to be congratulated on publishing less than two years after the conference.'-- (07/01/2003)

An essential read for archaeologists, documenting...the incredible array of perishable items (wood, bone, and shell artifacts, structural remains, canoes, macro-and micro botanicals, textiles, skeletal remains, DNA and other bioarchaeological data) that are simply unavailable to most dry-land settings.'--Southeastern Archaeology

Synopsis:

In rare cases prehistoric peoples and/or their most fragile creations endure when they become accidentally or intentionally entombed in environments that have remained constantly wet, dry, or frozen. These conditions protect them from decay. The finds are particularly informative when skeletons retain flesh, internal organs, and clothes, and when they are accompanied by items of personal adornment or weaponry made of wood, cordage or bone in addition to the more common stone and pottery objects. Preserved stomach contents sometimes reveal the ingredients of an individual's last meal. Well-known examples of this kind of survival include the bog-bodies of northern Europe, the Iceman of the Alps, Egyptian and Peruvian mummies, Swiss lake settlements, and in North America, the Ozette Village on the Olympic Peninsula, and Key Marco on Florida's lower Gulf Coast. These organic materials provide an invaluable window on the past, yet the fact that wetlands contain thousands of years of environmental and cultural history has not risen to the consciousness of the public, the scientific community, or governments.

These 27 papers on wetland research across the world, from America to Europe to Australasia, aim to raise the profile of these fragile environments and the potential they have for shedding light on the past.

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