Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Paleoecology

The journal Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Paleoecology has an emphasis on the global, featuring articles which range in focus from South America to South-East Asia, Northern Europe and Southern Africa, across a wide variety of historical periods. It is thus less focussed on specific site surveys but rather what the data revealed by various archaeological and scientific methodologies (its website specifically highlights archaeobotany, archaeozoology, palynology, geoarchaeology, and biological anthropology) can reveal about wider-scale interactions between past societies and their environments. There is a wealth of discussion about the Ancient Mediterranean environment, with nearly every volume featuring at least one article focussing on the Classical past (see below for potential starting points). These range from discussions of the Bronze Age Aegean to Roman Britain and into Late Antiquity, with attention given to a broad range of subjects within that, such as diet, farming, water supplies, and disease. The journal is a particularly good resource for those interested in pre-literate Mediterranean societies (including the Neolithic and Bronze Age).

Articles of potential interest

L. Gorobets & N. Rudenko (2022), ‘Remains of Birds from the Northwest Black Sea Ancient Settlements’, Vol. 27, 306-322.

• A study of ornithological remains found in the Black Sea Greek and Roman colonies (largely modern-day Ukraine), investigating the varying human usages for and relationships with both domesticated and wild birds.

C.D. Athanassas, K. Modis, M.C. Alçiçek & K. Theodorakopoulou (2018), ‘Contouring the Cataclysm: A Geographical Analysis of the Effects of the Minoan Eruption of the Santorini Volcano’, Vol 23, 160-176.

• Maps the extent of the dispersal of tephra (volcanic debris) from the Santorini (c. 1627-1600 BCE) in order to better understand the effects of the disaster on Aegean societies. There is also some discussion of the lasting legacies of the eruption in ancient texts, notably Hesiod’s account of the Titanomachy.

S. Mantelli (2015), ‘The Implications of Water Storage for Human Settlement in Mediterranean Waterless Islands: The Example of Pantelleria’, Vol. 20, 406-424.

• Discussion of ancient water management, using the example of cistern use on Pantelleria (Roman name: Cossyra), an island without a ready supply of freshwater. Includes discussion of the developments in water management between the Carthaginians and Romans.

Baruch Rosen, Ehud Galili & Mina Weinstein-Evron (2009), ‘Thorny Burnet (Sarcopoterium Spinosum L.) in a Roman Shipwreck off the Israeli Coast and the Role of Non-Timber Shrubs in Ancient Mediterranean Ships’, Vol. 14, 163-175.

• A study of thorny twigs found in a lead container in a Roman shipwreck suggesting they were used to as a filter in a pump system. The article also suggests that this usage in turn allowed the plant to spread across the Mediterranean.