El Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America (Dumbarton Oaks Other Titles in Pre-Columbian Studies) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0884023532 ISBN 13: 9780884023531

Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2009

Synopsis

El Niño is an extreme climate perturbation that periodically changes weather throughout the globe, often with dire consequences. First recognized in Peru, El Niño events are best known and documented there. This book summarizes research on the nature of El Niño events in the Americas and details specific historic and prehistoric patterns in Peru and elsewhere. By also looking at other catastrophic natural events in the ancient New World, the book illustrates how scientific archaeology can serve pure research as well as provide information for contemporary issues.

About this title

About the Author:

?Daniel H. Sandweiss is Professor of Anthropology and Quaternary and Climate Studies and Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies at the University of Maine.

Jeffrey Quilter is Deputy Director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

Review:

The contributions range from providing detailed understandings of paleoclimatic data to specific effects of catastrophic events on human populations and the solutions and adaptations made throughout prehistoric and historic periods. In that sense, the chapters open climatic discussions to the vast range of data from archaeological contexts, which provide the evidence for catastrophic events in the past as well as the different ways in which people in pre-Columbian cultures responded to potential catastrophes. (R. P. Wright Choice 2010-01-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0884023532
• ISBN 13: 9780884023531
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 438
• Editor: Sandweiss Daniel H., Quilter Jeffrey