Living Under the Shadow
Subtitle: Cultural Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions (One World Archaeology)
Contributors: John Grattan (Editor)
Publisher: Left Coast Press, Inc.; Routledge; Left Coast Press
Published: November 30, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9781598742688
Subjects: Social & cultural anthropology; Vulcanology & seismology; Social Science; Archaeology / Anthropology; Sociology; Archaeology; Earth Sciences - Geology; Earthquakes & Volcanoes; Social Science / Archaeology
Description: "Popularist treatments of ancient disasters like volcanic eruptions have grossly overstated their capacity for death, destruction, and societal collapse. Contributors to this volume - from anthropology, archaeology, environmental studies, geology, and biology - show that human societies have been incredibly resilient and, in the long run, have often recovered remarkably well from wide scale disruption and significant mortality. They have often used eruptions as a trigger for environmental enrichment, cultural change, and adaptation. These historical studies are relevant to modern hazard management because they provide records for a far wider range of events and responses than have been recorded in written records, yet are often closely datable and trackable using standard archaeological and geological techniques. Contributors also show the importance of traditional knowledge systems in creating a cultural memory of dangerous locations and community responses to disaster. The global and temporal coverage of the research reported is impressive, comprising studies from North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific, and ranging in time from the Middle Palaeolithic to the modern day."--BOOK JACKET.