Human-Environment Interactions

To respond to the complexity of the socioecosystemic crises that increasingly affect an anthropized and globalized planet, since 2007 the author has developed and implemented within the framework of the CNRS Ecology and Environment Institute (INEE) a comprehensive interdisciplinary system known as the Human-Environment Observatories (or OHM, of which there were 13 in 2019), a laureate of the Laboratory for Excellence project (LabEx) as part of the French Government's 'Investing in the future' programme ('Programme d'investissement d'avenir', PIA) since 2012. The author presents what interdisciplinarity means in this framework, how it differs from conventionally identified interdisciplinary exchanges, how it is conceived and implemented, from the theoretical to the most practical level. He provides some examples of work and in a discussion, positions this system and its principles with regard to the existing frameworks and systems. Keywords: environment / sustainable development / human-dominated ecosystems / interdisciplinarity / indisciplinarity Résumé-Conception et mise en oeuvre de l'interdisciplinarité dans les Observatoires hommes-milieux (OHM, CNRS). Les sociétés font face à des crises socioécosystémiques qui affectent de plus en plus une planète anthropisée et globalisée et qui sont un enjeu majeur pour son devenir. Pour répondre à cet enjeu, il faut faire face à la très haute complexité de systèmes très fortement anthropisés dont la compréhension nécessite des interactions entre toutes les sciences de l'environnement (sciences de la Terre, de la vie, de l'homme et de la société-SDE). Dans ce cadre, l'interdisciplinarité n'est pas un choix, mais une contrainte structurelle. L'auteur présente ici un dispositif global d'interdisciplinarité qu'il a conçu et développé dans le cadre du CNRS depuis 2007 dans ce but : les Observatoires hommes-milieux (OHM ; en 2019 treize avaient été créés, répartis en France et dans d'autres pays). Ils ont été organisés dans le cadre du Labex DRIIHM (Dispositif de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les interactions hommes-milieux). Ce Labex, lauréat du PIA1 en 2012 et créé initialement pour 8 ans, vient d'être renouvelé pour 5 ans (2020-2025). Les OHM se dédient à l'étude de sites très anthropisés, marqués par un « événement fondateur » qui vient bouleverser les équilibres écologiques, économiques et sociaux établis depuis des années, entraînant ainsi une crise socioécosystémique majeure (par exemple, un bassin sidérurgique et sa fermeture). Dans cet article, l'auteur énonce les qualités requises pour que cette interdisciplinarité puisse répondre à cet enjeu socioécologique et précise les définitions des démarches de multi-, inter-et transdisciplinarité. Il observe que, dans les OHM, c'est une « disciplinarité éclairée » qui s'est spontanément développée entre les SDE, grâce à cette attitude heuristique d'ouverture d'esprit nommée « indisciplinarité ». Trois exemples de ce fonctionnement sont présentés, qui illustrent la

In many cases, material culture acts as a mediator between the living and the dead (Hallam and Hockey 2001). Items used by the living can leave their mark osteologically, can follow an individual into a burial context, or can become part of an individual. Each of these actions leaves archaeological evidence of cultural communication. This paper examines the dialectical relationships between artifacts and osteology through an integrative analysis of the multilayered relationships between osteological data, artifact analysis, and historic documents. Three examples from the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery demonstrate the materialized relationships between institutions, archaeologists, and the poor and unclaimed of Milwaukee County in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These include: pipe stem grooves and the recovery of pipes, the contemporary categorization of dentures, and dental work (bridges, implants, etc.) as signifiers of institutional relationships (Hodder 2012). Within these relationships, the manifestation of institutional facts juxtaposed with lived experience can be revealed (Renfrew 2004: 26).

In this thesis, through the existing literature, the effects of the interaction between humanbeings and the environment upon space are examined. Under the title ?Spatial Organization?,the concepts of culture-occupant relationship and privacy are discussed. As a result of theresearch conducted, it is concluded that built environment is a product of the clashes betweenstructure and space, and structure and occupant. In order to examine this argument, someanonymous settlements bearing the simplest examples of structure-space and structureoccupantrelationships are mentioned and the continuity of the transfer of structure in thesesettlements is emphasized. It is also put forward that this continuity is affected in anonymoussettlements where cultural diversity and different techniques of space production co-exist.Through a fieldwork carried out in Yahşibey settlement using space syntax technique, factorsthat influence spatial continuity in culturally diverse places are scrutinized. The analyses ofthe space syntax application are discussed using the concept of privacy, and are associatedwith the cultural diversity of the occupants. Taking the buildings in Yahşibey settlement intoaccount, it is argued that groups of structures having similar relationships with space maintainspatial continuity outside the structure, and that groups of structures having diverserelationships with space break the spatial continuity inside the structure.
Keywords: Spatial organization, human-environment interaction, culture-occupantrelationship, privacy, spatial continuity, space syntax

Reductions in global bee populations are threatening the pollination benefits to both the planet and people. Whilst the contribution of bee pollination in promoting sustainable development goals through food security and biodiversity is widely acknowledged, a range of other benefits provided by bees has yet to be fully recognised. We explore the contributions of bees towards achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our insights suggest that bees potentially contribute towards 15 of the 17 SDGs and a minimum of 30 SDG targets. We identify common themes in which bees play an essential role, and suggest that improved understanding of bee contributions to sustainable development is crucial for ensuring viable bee systems.

Cette thèse de doctorat a pour objectif d’identifier entre le second Âge du Fer et le haut Moyen Âge les occupations et les activités humaines d’un territoire de marge aux confins des cités arvernes, vellaves et ségusiaves, le Livradois-Forez, puis d’apporter des éléments de réflexion sur leur intégration régionale. Elle est menée dans une perspective dynamique, diachronique et systémique. Cette approche d’archéologie du paysage met au centre des préoccupations les relations entre les sociétés et leur milieu, et tout particulièrement l’économie. Cette recherche est volontairement à la croisée de l’archéologie et des sciences de l’environnement afin de mieux cerner le milieu dans lequel les sociétés passées ont évolué et les éventuelles influences humaines sur celui-ci, mais aussi d’identifier les processus socio-économiques et culturels.
Cette recherche a nécessité une approche en trois étapes : intégrer les travaux et les synthèses développés dans le cadre de programmes de recherche auxquels je participe ; établir une synthèse des données archéologiques ; acquérir de nouvelles données par des prospections archéologiques et des analyses des macrorestes végétaux en milieu tourbeux. L’utilisation de quatre fenêtres d’études, reflet des différentes entités paysagères, a été privilégiée. Autant qu’il fut possible, chaque fenêtre comportait des prospections archéologiques et des données paléoenvironnementales.
Le croisement des données archéologiques, paléoécologiques, géoarchéologiques et l’utilisation d’un SIG ont permis d’identifier une hétérogénéité du développement qu’il faut replacer dans deux cycles économiques : le premier du second Âge du Fer au Haut-Empire, le second du Bas-Empire au haut Moyen Âge.
Pour chaque cycle, les occupations humaines et les mises en valeur du milieu reflètent des stratégies et des choix socio-économiques : le relief et son climat, les ressources disponibles (agricoles mais aussi vraisemblablement le bois et la présence de minerai), la proximité de voies de communication, de bassins de peuplement importants et des différents centres des trois cités. Chaque nouvelle étape dans la mise en valeur des terroirs est accompagnée par une hausse de l’érosion, la mise en place de tourbières et de modifications dans le fonctionnement des tourbières plus anciennes.
Enfin, cet espace semble être intégré à l’économie régionale.
The purpose of this thesis is to identify human occupation and exploitation of the environment of marginal territories in the Livradois-Forez, which include the cities of Arverne, Segusiave, and Vellave, and to investigate the regional integration of these localities from the second Iron Age to the Early Middle Age. This thesis is conducted from a dynamic, diachronic, and systemic perspective, and utilizes a landscape archaeology approach to explore the relations between societies, in particular their economies, and the environment. The research presented crosses archaeology and the environmental sciences in order to increase knowledge of the setting in which these societies evolved and the possible human influences on it, but it also identifies social-economic and cultural processes.
The completion of this project required three stages: first, the integration of research and syntheses developed from research programs in which I collaborated; second, the synthesis of the archaeological data; third, the acquisition of new data through archaeological field surveys and through the analysis of plant macrofossils from peatlands. Four sectors that reflect key components of the landscape have been used. As far as possible, research in each sector included archaeological surveys and paleoenvironmental research.
Interdisciplinary archaeological, paleoecological, and geoarchaeological studies, combined with GIS, exhibit a heterogenous development that can be seen in two economic cycles: the first, from the Second Iron Age to the High Roman Empire; the second, from the Late Roman Empire to the Early Middle Age.
For each economic cycle, human land use and the exploitation of the environment reflect strategies and social-economic choices driven by topography, climate, and available resources (particularly agricultural resources, but also the presence of wood and ore). The proximity of routes of communication reflects important pools of population and the centers of the three cities. Each stage of environmental exploitation is marked by an increase of erosion, peat initiation, and changes in the use of the oldest peatland.
Finally, this border area seems to be integrated into the regional economy.

Ecomusicology is an emerging subfield, which fuses the discipline of ecocriticism with musicology; it considers the interconnections between music, culture, and nature by exploring the cultural meaning of music in relation to nature and of nature in relation to music. Ecomusicology presents potential in raising awareness about critical environmental issues through music’s lens, bridging the many gaps between arts and sciences, nature and culture, human and nonhuman sound worlds, and considering music and sound in supporting sustainability through the concept of aesthetics.
The first step toward sustainability is to care for the world in which we live—a world full of beautiful landscapes that we want to preserve for both the present and future generations. Music has the ability to achieve this step though the aesthetics of a place’s spirit it tries to capture in the aural sphere. In essence, music can give meaning to a place by translating its uniqueness into sound either by imitating—in other words, representing a place’s natural sounds through instrumentation—or incorporating directly its sounds, such as whale songs for example. 
Philosophers of aesthetics have argued that instrumental music is not representational in the same way as words are. In his book Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment, author Mark Pedelty provides his stance on instrumental music, stating that symphonic compositions are less denotative in nature than popular music with lyrical content and therefore, can present more challenges when used to promote sustainability. This paper will argue that place-making instrumental music can be just as effective in raising ecological awareness as songs referencing environmental issues in their lyrics—and in some ways, more so. Compositions that imitate the sounds of nature with wind and string instruments such as Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and John Luther Adams’ Songbirdsongs, can evoke strong emotions in the listener, leaving ample space and time to access the imagination and draw from one’s individual and cultural memory, while the lyrics in place-making pieces such as Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is your Land and Pete Seeger’s Sailing up My Dirty Stream can be manipulated and interpreted in ways other than the artist’s intention, ultimately undermining environmental advocates’ efforts.

This paper explores diverse patterns of settlement and land use across an environmentally
transitional area in eastern Iraq and western Iran during the Sasanian period. Historical and
modern high-resolution satellite images in conjunction with field surveys are employed to
document archaeological features. Analysis of multispectral satellite imagery creates a historical
and traditional land use model that contributes to a spatial understanding of land classes and
their relationship with archaeological features. Thereafter, data are interpreted with respect to
the environmental and ethnographic records. Results indicate the limitations of our past
archaeological knowledge of human-environment interactions during late antiquity. They
present multitier land use and subsistence strategy in a region outside of the empire’s political
and economic core zones. I discuss intertwined interactions between the sedentary and nonsedentary
populations and argue that while intensification occurred in the late Sasanian period,
agropastoralism and mobility have been dominant patterns of settlement and land use.

Environmental anthropologists attempt to accommodate social justice while seeking to reconcile more-than-human relations and responsibilities towards their habitats. This article acknowledges areas of tension between local livelihoods and international conservation efforts, between indigenous peoples and wildlife, between traditional lifeways and development, and finally between different types of ethical assumptions that underlie anthropological advocacy. A number of dichotomies that are inherent in these tensions are discussed. With regard to the ecocentric/anthropocentric dichotomy, I argue that while human and environmental interests are sometimes intertwined, ecocentrism is necessary if non-humans are to be protected outside of utilitarian interests. With regard to the ‘neoliberal conservation/local communities’ dichotomy, I argue that blaming conservation for the violation of social justice depoliticises the issue of ecological injustice. Through a critical discussion of these dichotomies, this article examines the role of environmental anthropology in addressing today’s pressing environmental issues, particularly the loss of biodiversity, with respect to the ‘conservation’ of communities and that of protected areas

Please see the version of record here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.04.009

This paper examines the long-term development of palm oil landscapes in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. In contrast to the agroindustrial monocultures that dominate global production, palm oil in Bahia emerges from a biodiverse cultural landscape constructed through five centuries of transatlantic socioecological exchange. Native to West Africa, African oil palms (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) diffused to the New World during colonial overseas expansion, becoming established in Bahia by the seventeenth century. There the palms helped form a complex cultural landscape that continues to supply local alimentary and spiritual demands for palm oil—an essential resource in many Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions. Extending approximately 70 km south of the capital Salvador, Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes are now officially dubbed the Dendê Coast (Costa do Dendê), following the Kimbundu Bantu-inspired Afro-Brazilian term for palm oil. Historically colonial officials and elite Brazilians showed little interest in Bahia's palm oil economy, effectively conceding it to Afro-descendants until the mid-twentieth century. Since then, a series of modern development interventions have sought to transform the complex, biodiverse landscapes of the Dendê Coast into a legible oil palm monoculture based on an improved hybrid variety. Yet despite recurrent top-down efforts, emergent or " subspontaneous " groves and traditional polycultural landscapes continue to dominate land use in the region. Drawing on ethnography, landscape interpretations, archives, and geospatial analysis, this paper analyzes the historical development of Bahia's palm oil economy, recounting five centuries of socioecological changes on the Dendê Coast. The study integrates recent geographical treatments of the African diaspora with theories of complexity to comprehend the ongoing proliferation of Bahia's traditional palm oil landscapes despite top-down promotion of modern monocultures.

Environmental archaeological enquiry has a long and vibrant history. Many of the same questions have persisted in archaeological dialogues over the past century. In particular, the effects of environmental change on demographic patterns, health, and societal stability are among the most pervasive questions being addressed by anthropological research. These studies have limitations, however. For example, evaluations of the complex relationships between environmental variables and human responses are only just beginning to emerge in anthropological literature. This goal requires high-resolution paleoclimate datasets and the use of quantitative modelling rooted in evolutionary and complex systems theory. This paper serves as a broad review of advances in environmental archaeological enquiry associated with environmental change and human response. I argue that the future of archaeological questions concerning human-environmental connection requires a re-evaluation of causality and the incorporation of complex systems approaches to address human responses to external pressures.

This article takes a fresh look at human-kingfisher relations in Eastern Han-dynasty China (CE 25–220). It argues that the confined appearance of kingfisher figurines in graves excavated in the southwest of the modern-day People’s Republic of China reflects the structural differences in human-kingfisher interactions between the centre(s) of the Han empire and its peripheries. By re-visiting the archaeology of the figurines and placing them into the wider cultural and ecological context, it is shown that distinct sociocultural transformations such as urbanisation processes and infrastructural projects profoundly changed the exposure and interactional dynamics between humans and kingfishers in the northern parts of the realm. This situation contrasted sharply with human-kingfisher interfaces in the southwest, where relatively ‘untamed’ environments harbouring a great number and diversity of kingfishers
provided more favourable conditions for encountering them. I propose that this framework, in turn, fostered conceptualizations of kingfishers in which the birds came to encapsulate an experience fundamentally opposed to the type of human preponderance showcased in the core areas. By discussing a set of local practices and beliefs that might have further promoted this view, I suggest that they served as catalysts for the emergence of the kingfisher figurines at a particular time in a specific place. In this wider context, the article finally considers whether the southward expansion of the Eastern Han, with which the appearance of the figurines coincides, contributed to a re-configuration of north–south
dynamics, shaping the general logic of human-kingfisher relations at the time.

The reconstruction of high-resolution chronologies for prehistoric cultures is a prerequisite for understanding the history of human evolution and its relationship with environmental change, and is valuable for exploring the trajectory of transcontinental cultural exchanges in prehistoric time. The Hexi Corridor of northwest China was one of the earliest centers for long-distance culture exchange in the prehistoric world. The timing and sequence of cultural changes in this area remains poorly understood resulting from the lack of radiometric age control. This paper presents a refined radiocarbon (14 C) chronology to resolve the timing of human occupation and cultural evolution in the Hexi Corridor. Radiocarbon dating of crop remains, which have an annual life cycle, has the advantage of eliminating problems such as the carbon stored in 'old wood'. As a result, 14 C dates from crop remains are used to test the validity of the 14 C dates derived from charcoal, bone and plant remains. The resultant database of ages is modelled using the Bayesian approach. The updated chronology presented in this paper shows generally good agreement with the original dates used to constrain cultural evolution in the Hexi Corridor. However, the occupation of the corridor by the Shajing and Shanma Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age cultures appears to have taken place ~300 years later than previously thought. On the basis of comparing this updated chronology of cultural evolution with palaeoclimatic and historical records, it is proposed that the collapse of the Shajing and Shanma cultures occurred as a result of geopolitical impact rather than climate change.

Aim: Domestic animals first appeared in the archaeological record in northern Africa c. 9000 years before present and subsequently spread southwards throughout the continent. This geographic expansion is well studied and can broadly be explained in terms of the movement of pastoralist populations due to climate change. However, no studies have explicitly evaluated changes in the climatic niche of these domesti-cates. A priori, one cannot assume a relationship between the geographic spread of animal production and changes in climatic niche breadth because their relationship is highly variable. Therefore, we investigated Holocene changes in the climatic niche of domestic animals (animal production) and compared these to changes in the climatic niche of hunted terrestrial ungulates. Location: The African continent. Time period: 9000-500 BP. Major taxa studied: Domestic animals, hunted (wild) terrestrial ungulates. Methods: For the first time, we applied methods from environmental niche dynamics to archaeological data to reconstruct and quantify changes in the climatic niche breadth of animal production during the African Holocene. We used faunal remains from archaeological assemblages and associated radiocarbon dates to estimate the proportion of the African climate space used for animal production and hunting at 500-year intervals. Results: We found that the climatic niche of domestic species broadened significantly with the geographic spread, most notably during the termination of the African Humid Period, whilst no such broadening occurred for the climatic niche of hunted species. Main conclusions: Our results provide a quantitative measure of the extent to which humans have constructed and adapted the climatic niche of animal production to manage their domestic animals across increasingly diverse ecological conditions. By incorporating ecological analysis into estimations of past land use, our methods have

The mosaic ecology of the Late Pleistocene Levant has been referred to by many authors investigating Epipaleolithic use of wild cereals as a prelude to cultivation, but it has rarely been the focus of studies investigating hunter-gatherer adaptations and diverse wild plant collection strategies. Partly, this was due to poor preservation of macro-botanical remains at Epipaleolithic sites with the exception of Ohalo II. Our analyses of 100 phytolith samples from four sites in the eastern Levant, compared with phytoliths from Ohalo II, reveal evidence for how foragers used the unique local ecological opportunities in these regions. Abundant phytoliths from reeds and sedges indicate the critical importance of wetlands in hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies. Wild cereals and grasses point to steppe and parkland exploitation, and woody plants indicate use of woodlands. From the Late Upper Paleolithic through the Middle Epipaleolithic our evidence indicates that wetland, steppe/parkland and woodland zones formed an integrated resilient system of plant-use, with wetlands providing an especially important focal point. We also found that different wetland types and their productivity relative to the surrounding landscape have a clear impact on hunter-gatherer adaptation and plant-use. Focusing subsistence and settlement around the reliable wetland zones provided a dependable natural food-storage repository and allowed greater risk-taking strategies for other types of plant and animal exploitation beyond the wetland zones.

The nature and extent of pre-Columbian (pre-AD 1492) human impact in Amazonia is a contentious issue. The Bolivian Amazon has yielded some of the most impressive evidence for large and complex pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon basin, yet there remains relatively little data concerning the land use of these societies over time. Palaeoecology, when integrated with archaeological data, has the potential to fill these gaps in our knowledge. We present a 6000-year record of anthropogenic burning, agriculture and vegetation change, from an oxbow lake located adjacent to a pre-Columbian ring ditch in north-east Bolivia (13°15′44″S, 63°42′37″W). Human occupation around the lake site is inferred from pollen and phytoliths of maize (Zea mays L.) and macroscopic charcoal evidence of anthropogenic burning. First occupation around the lake was radiocarbon dated to ~2500 calibrated years before present (BP). The persistence of maize in the record from ~1850 BP suggests that it was an importan...

We present a palaeoecological investigation of pre-Columbian land use in the savannah " forest island " landscape of northeast Bolivian Amazonia. A 5700 year sediment core from La Luna Lake, located adjacent to the La Luna forest island site, was analysed for fossil pollen and charcoal. We aimed to determine the palaeoenvironmental context of pre-Columbian occupation on the site and assess the environmental impact of land use in the forest island region. Evidence for anthropogenic burning and Zea mays L. cultivation began ~2000 cal a BP, at a time when the island was covered by savannah, under drier-than-present climatic conditions. After ~1240 cal a BP burning declined and afforestation occurred. We show that construction of the ring ditch, which encircles the island, did not involve substantial deforestation. Previous estimates of pre-Columbian population size in this region, based upon labour required for forest clearance, should therefore be reconsidered. Despite the high density of economically useful plants, such as Theobroma cacao, in the modern forest, no direct pollen evidence for agroforestry was found. However, human occupation is shown to pre-date and span forest expansion on this site, suggesting that here, and in the wider forest island region, there is no truly pre-anthropogenic 'pristine' forest.

Samoan terrestrial production is vastly under researched archaeologically and few projects explicitly explore such a topic. This paper reports a food production system found in the interior of Olosega Island, one of three islands within the Manu'a group of American Samoa. This production system was part of a divided landscape, in which the residential was separated from the non-residential. This division was created by a large ditch that cuts across the landscape that was likely used for water diversion. Swidden horticulture was a key component in this production system, practiced upslope of the large ditch. Arboriculture occurred within the residential area downslope of the ditch. Such a production system illustrates the multiple paths cultures can take to increase production while staying resilient in their unique environment. The human population of Olosega utilized numerous ecological niches in order to minimize variance while also creating a productive food exploitation system.

Today, access to sustainable environment for more presence of humans in open space should improve the quality of open spaces and human thermal comfort. Hence, the courtyard as an open space is an important element in solar radiation absorption and providing thermal comfort. The aim of this paper is to investigate the climatic performance of traditional courtyard houses, according to shading and sunlit in two cities with different climates: Kashan city (hot-arid climate) and Ardabil city (cold climate). In order to carry out this research, firstly ten types of traditional houses in Kashan and Ardabil were chosen. , thereafter, the shadow and sunlit in almost all floors and walls of courtyards were calculated and analyzed in June and December using Ecotect software simulations. In order to assess the compatibility level of the selected historical samples of each city with the region's climate, the average of a composite indexes (shading-sunlit index of walls and floor) of the selected houses in two cities have been compared. The average shading-sunlit index for the houses in Kashan is 0.43 and for the selected houses in Ardabil is 0.40; meaning that in both cities, the houses are relatively compatible with the region's climate and the cases in Kashan city show more compatible to some extent. Also the results of studies demonstrate that in case studies in both cities, the amount of shaded surfaces have appropriate climate compatibility in warm months; while, in terms of sunlit, they do not have an appropriate climate compatibility in cold months.

The discovery of extensive pre-Columbian earthworks in north-eastern Bolivia has been seen as evidence that Amazonia was once densely populated by complex societies. This has led some scholars to believe that culture evolved in Amazonia regardless of environmental constraints. However, this view does not take the diversity of earthworks and geo-ecological regions into account, nor their uneven distribution. This paper offers an initial explanation of the possible links that exist between the different types of earthworks in north-eastern Bolivia and their environmental settings and identifies six distinct eco-archaeological regions. Results show a spatial overlap between those areas with greater evidence of past complex societies and areas where environmental constraints were fewer. This suggests that local hydrology and soils influenced the development of pre-Columbian societies in the region. Keywords: human-environment interactions, landscape archaeology, Amazon Basin, Bolivia, social complexity

This paper draws on the testimonials and writings of Darly and other environmental activists based in the South Indian state of Kerala to illuminate the workings of the sand mining industry in contemporary India. Darly is a 65-year-old woman from Olathani, a village located along the Neyyar River in Southern Kerala, who has voiced her opposition to the operations of the sand mining industry for several years. Due to her actions, she endured several years of physical and psychological abuse from local authorities and individuals affiliated with the industry, which had taken a serious toll her mental and physical health. I draw upon Darly's testimonial and writings on the effects of sand mining in the Neyyar, along with the work of Anitha Sharma, an environmentalist based in Kerala, to argue for the need to understand uneven development, and the production of nature, in contemporary India through lived, embodied articulations and experiences of fear wrought by this process. Darly's own work I argue, illuminates the ways in which the production of nature as an abstract concept is actually experienced, lived and struggled with through an everyday

We present the first, well-dated, high-resolution record of vegetation and landscape change from Serbia, which spans the past 500 years. Biological proxies (pollen, spores, and charcoal), geochemical analysis through X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and a detailed chronology based on AMS 14C dating from a western Serbian sinkhole core suggest complex woodland-grassland dynamics and strong erosional signals throughout the Little Ice Age (LIA). An open landscape with prominent steppe vegetation (e.g. Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae) and minor woodland exists during 1540-1720 CE (early LIA), while the late LIA (1720-1850 CE) in this record shows higher tree percentages possibly due to increased moisture availability. The post LIA Era (1850-2012 CE) brings a disturbed type of vegetation with the presence of weedy genera and an increase in regional woodland. Anthropogenic indicators for agricultural, pastoral and fire practices in the region together attest to the dominant role of humans in shaping this Balkan landscape throughout the interval. The changing nature of human interference, potentially as a response to underlying climatic transitions, is evident through large-scale soil depletion resulting from grazing and land clearance during the early LIA and stabilization of arable lands during the late and post-LIA eras.

Multidisciplinary research in fire dynamics in the Patagonian-Andean region is incipient. In this review, we synthesize archaeological, anthropological, paleo-, dendro- and neoecological projects on past climate-human-fire-vegetation dynamics to establish ecological benchmarks to burning over time.