Jay Stratton Noller

Holocene coevolution of the physical landscape and human settlement in northern coastal Peru

Humans are constrained by the hyperarid environment of the Peruvian Desert, which they have occupied throughout the Holocene Epoch. Habitats amenable to human occupation are limited to the riparian oases and the high-productivity coastal zone. Dramatic cultural and technological evolution was coincident with landscape evolution that responded to climatic and sea level variability. Occupation sites of hunter-gatherers older than 8,000 years are rarely found, as much of the landscape from this period is drowned and unexplored. Seven-thousand years ago, sea level stabilized and coastal middens of this age attest to exploitation of the now stationary marine resource. In response, rivers backfilled and the population became progressively more dependent upon terrestrial resources. The shift to an agricultural economy resulted in a migration of settlements inland along the river valleys. Extreme events (sea level stabilization, droughts, El Nino floods) have likely facilitated periods of rapid technological and cultural innovation. 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Sydney Cyprus Survey Project: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Long-Term Change in the North Central Troodos, Cyprus

AbstractThe Sydney Cyprus Survey Project (SCSP) began work in the north central Troodos Mountains of Cyprus in 1992. The aim of the project is to examine the relationships among the exploitation of natural resources (especially copper mining and agriculture), the development of complex social systems, and the changes taking place in the physical landscape. This interim report puts our fieldwork and interpretation into the context of contemporary regional survey practice, and describes our approaches to methodological problems such as sampling strategies, analytical units, and field walking techniques. We present an integrated discussion of two specific areas of interest and an overview of the main results and conclusions of the project to date.

Troodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project, Cyprus: Report on the 2001 Season

Abstract This report summarises the first field season of interdisciplinary field survey in the northern Troodos mountains in Cyprus. The overall objective of the project is to integrate intensive archaeological and geomorphological survey with a range of other analytical techniques, in order to understand the relationship between human activity and the environment. Particular focuses of the 2001 season included an area of Roman copper production and habitation; the mountainous Asinou area during the Medieval to Modern periods; and the fertile Karkotis Valley with its long history of cultivation and settlement. All areas were examined in the context of survey transects sampling the broader landscape at all periods.