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Sustainability
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Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures
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Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2021) | Viewed by 32419

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Michelle J. LeFebvre

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Guest Editor
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-7800, USA
Prof. Dr. Jon M. Erlandson

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Guest Editor
Museum of Natural & Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224, USA
Interests: Archaeology; Historical Ecology; Human Impacts; Long-Term Sustainability on Islands around the World
Prof. Dr. Scott M. Fitzpatrick

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Museum of Natural & Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224, USA
Interests: Archaeology; Historical Ecology; Human Impacts; Long-Term Sustainability on Islands around the World

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Within a framework of historical ecology, paleoecology, archaeology, history, biology, and other disciplines these papers contribute to a deeper inter-disciplinary understanding of human impacts, adaptations, and sustainability on numerous islands and archipelagos. The effects of European colonialism and subsequent globalization devastated island ecosystems around the world, leading to widespread extinctions and extirpations, the introduction of exotic species, habitat destruction, and massive ecological reorganizations. The magnitude of such changes has sometimes altered island ecosystems to such a degree that the ecology and productivity of islands prior to historical degradation can be difficult to envision. Conservation biologists who use recent baselines to help guide restoration efforts in island environments are often limited to written records that do not reflect the deeper history of such ecosystems.

Archaeology and paleoecology can reconstruct the nature of island ecosystems at various points in time prior to the age of European colonialism and globalization, but they also show that these ecosystems are rarely static. A growing body of evidence suggests that indigenous peoples measurably impacted many islands long before the colonial era. Even as the evidence for such ancient impacts grows, it is clear that indigenous cultures managed to live relatively sustainably on many islands for centuries or millennia. In this volume we present case studies from islands around the world, each exploring how indigenous peoples survived and even thrived on islands over the long duree. Our case studies often counter models of “impact” and “collapse” that have become common in the scientific literature and popular media. They also explore and highlight the resilience of many island cultures and ecosystems, even in the face of the accelerating global changes associated with the Anthropocene.

Dr. Michelle J. LeFebvre
Prof. Dr. Jon M. Erlandson
Prof. Dr. Scott M. Fitzpatrick
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Islands and Archipelagos
  • Archaeology as Deep History
  • Historical Ecology
  • Human Impacts and Sustainability
  • Indigenous Cultures
  • Island Futures

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 970 KiB  
Article
Archaeology as Sustainability Science: Perspectives from Ancient Island Societies
by Michelle J. LeFebvre, Jon M. Erlandson and Scott M. Fitzpatrick
Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9689; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14159689 - 06 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3173
Abstract
Humans and the diverse ecosystems we inhabit face numerous sustainability challenges due to climate change, rising seas, population growth, overfishing, natural habitat destruction, accelerating extinctions, and more. As an interdisciplinary paradigm that leverages both natural and social sciences to better understand linkages between [...] Read more.
Humans and the diverse ecosystems we inhabit face numerous sustainability challenges due to climate change, rising seas, population growth, overfishing, natural habitat destruction, accelerating extinctions, and more. As an interdisciplinary paradigm that leverages both natural and social sciences to better understand linkages between humans and the environment, sustainability science focuses on how these connections shape understandings of and approaches to sustainability challenges. Here, we argue that archaeology and historical ecology are essential components of sustainability science. We view sustainability as a long-term process where historical sciences are critical to effectively measuring where we stand today and modeling future trajectories based on the baselines from the past that archaeology and historical ecology provide. We demonstrate that islands around the world are central to this endeavor because they serve as model systems that can capture the timing of human arrival, subsequent effects of cultural behaviors on pristine environments, and how humans adapted, survived, and often thrived for centuries or millennia. These cases provide important lessons about human responses in the past to similar challenges that we now currently face. In the uncertain futures of the Anthropocene, such historical baselines will contribute significantly to scientific approaches for building more resilient and sustainable societies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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29 pages, 3082 KiB  
Article
In Support of Sustainability: The Historical Ecology of Vertebrate Biodiversity and Native American Harvest Practices in the Florida Keys, USA
by Michelle J. LeFebvre, Traci Ardren, Victor D. Thompson, Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Sara Ayers-Rigsby
Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6552; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14116552 - 27 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3005
Abstract
The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cultural heritage due to sea-level rise, catastrophic storm events, unsustainable traditions of resource exploitation, and land development. Yet, these islands have a long history of human occupation and socioecological systems underlying [...] Read more.
The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cultural heritage due to sea-level rise, catastrophic storm events, unsustainable traditions of resource exploitation, and land development. Yet, these islands have a long history of human occupation and socioecological systems underlying their current sustainability crisis that date back at least 2500 years. Here we report early results of ongoing zooarchaeological research from Upper Matecumbe Key designed to explore anthropogenic engagement with vertebrate fauna between AD 800 and 1250, providing an approximately 500-year window on marine fisheries and terrestrial faunal harvesting for this small island archipelago. Focusing on one of the few remaining, nearly intact Native American archaeological sites in the region, our research contributes to critically needed long-term anthropogenic perspectives on harvest patterns relevant to regional biodiversity conservation and sustainability initiatives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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31 pages, 1630 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Sustainability, Resource Management, and Collective Action on Two Atolls in the Remote Pacific
by Justin Cramb and Victor D. Thompson
Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5174; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14095174 - 25 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2706
Abstract
Examples of environmental transformation, the creation of sustainable lifeways, and the development of environmentally aware political forms better our understanding of how peoples build on tradition and environmental circumstance to form novel institutions. Using archaeological data, oral histories, genealogies, radiocarbon dating, and Bayesian [...] Read more.
Examples of environmental transformation, the creation of sustainable lifeways, and the development of environmentally aware political forms better our understanding of how peoples build on tradition and environmental circumstance to form novel institutions. Using archaeological data, oral histories, genealogies, radiocarbon dating, and Bayesian modeling, we present a timeline of habitation and land-use patterns on Manihiki and Rakahanga, two remote atolls in East Polynesia. We track socioecological change on the atolls from the time of first colonization ca. AD 1200–1400 through to sustained European contact in the mid-1800s. The findings document and temporally anchor collective action-based processes of landscape transformation, the development of a system of cyclical mass migration aimed at sustainable resource use, and the implementation of a novel dual-chiefdom political system. This demonstrates that new levels of political “complexity” manifest as patterns of shifting hierarchy and novel forms of political and ecological management, and can arise in relation to specific social and ecological challenges in systems of any size. The perpetuation and adaptation of aspects of these traditional institutions can help to maintain the sustainability of populations today in the face of climatic and social change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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23 pages, 49364 KiB  
Article
Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
by Robert J. DiNapoli, Carl P. Lipo and Terry L. Hunt
Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 12118; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132112118 - 02 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6245
Abstract
The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century [...] Read more.
The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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21 pages, 5975 KiB  
Article
Resilient Caribbean Communities: A Long-Term Perspective on Sustainability and Social Adaptability to Natural Hazards in the Lesser Antilles
by Corinne L. Hofman, Charlotte Eloise Stancioff, Andrea Richards, Irvince Nanichi Auguiste, Augustine Sutherland and Menno L. P. Hoogland
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9807; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179807 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6652
Abstract
Caribbean islands, like other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), are at the center of the vulnerability debate as current climatic trends predict elevated sea levels and increased frequency of storms, leading to significant challenges for local communities. Caribbean islanders have been exposed to [...] Read more.
Caribbean islands, like other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), are at the center of the vulnerability debate as current climatic trends predict elevated sea levels and increased frequency of storms, leading to significant challenges for local communities. Caribbean islanders have been exposed to climatic challenges since the initial occupation of the archipelago between five to eight thousand years ago. They have been continually confronted with severe droughts, tropical cyclones, extreme wave events, sea-level changes, and the accompanying impacts. The various phenomena have stimulated island residents both to anticipate and respond to such events, adapting their lifestyles and socio-cultural and political structures and ties across the region over time. In this article, we innovatively combine archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data with longitudinal coastal-erosion data and ethnographic data to further develop and promote sustainable local strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and increasingly frequent and violent weather events on small-island settings. To find proxies, we first look into the region’s pre-colonial archaeological record. Second, we delve into predictive modeling and the current and future climatic challenges for heritage sites and local coastal communities, as well as related collaborative heritage mitigation efforts. Third, we discuss the contribution of traditional knowledge practices to climate change adaptation. The results show how the long-term perspective and multidisciplinary approach adopted here may lead to realistic solutions to seemingly intractable problems. They also reveal how collaborative projects involving all stakeholders on an equal basis in all phases of research have become a top priority in climate change mitigation and heritage safeguarding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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15 pages, 1192 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Indigenous Fishing in the Pre-Contact Caribbean: Evidence and Critical Considerations from Carriacou, Grenada
by Christina M. Giovas
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9152; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169152 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3514
Abstract
Multiple studies reveal pre-1492 anthropogenic impacts on Caribbean fisheries that are consistent with overfishing, including changes in targeted prey, shifts in marine habitats exploited, and decreases in the average body size of taxa. At the Indigenous Caribbean village of Sabazan (AD 400–1400) on [...] Read more.
Multiple studies reveal pre-1492 anthropogenic impacts on Caribbean fisheries that are consistent with overfishing, including changes in targeted prey, shifts in marine habitats exploited, and decreases in the average body size of taxa. At the Indigenous Caribbean village of Sabazan (AD 400–1400) on Carriacou, Lesser Antilles, post-AD 800 declines in fishing, increased mollusk collection, and changes in resource patch emphasis accord with the archaeological correlates of resource depression predicted by foraging theory models from behavioral ecology. Here, I apply foraging theory logic and abundance indices incorporating body size and fish habitat to test the predictions of expanded diet breadth, declining prey body size, and shifts to more distant fishing patches that are typically associated with overfishing. Results uphold a significant decrease in overall fishing, which may be due to habitat change associated with the Medieval Warm Period. Indices of fish size and resource patch use do not meet foraging theory expectations for resource depression, however. Instead, they suggest an absence of resource depression in the Sabazan fishery and at least 600 years of sustainable fishing. I review similar findings for other Caribbean archaeological sites with either negative evidence for fisheries’ declines or quantitatively demonstrated sustainable fishing. These sites collectively serve as a critical reminder of the heterogeneous trajectories of Indigenous social–ecological systems in the pre-contact Caribbean and the need for meta-level analyses of the region’s ancient fisheries. I discuss the application of the sustainability concept in archaeological studies of fishing and conclude that a more critical, explicit approach to defining and measuring sustainability in ancient fisheries is needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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19 pages, 1891 KiB  
Article
Stable Isotopic Evidence for Nutrient Rejuvenation and Long-Term Resilience on Tikopia Island (Southeast Solomon Islands)
by Jillian A. Swift, Patrick V. Kirch, Jana Ilgner, Samantha Brown, Mary Lucas, Sara Marzo and Patrick Roberts
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8567; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158567 - 31 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2678
Abstract
Tikopia Island, a small and relatively isolated Polynesian Outlier in the Southeast Solomon Islands, supports a remarkably dense human population with minimal external support. Examining long-term trends in human land use on Tikopia through archaeological datasets spanning nearly 3000 years presents an opportunity [...] Read more.
Tikopia Island, a small and relatively isolated Polynesian Outlier in the Southeast Solomon Islands, supports a remarkably dense human population with minimal external support. Examining long-term trends in human land use on Tikopia through archaeological datasets spanning nearly 3000 years presents an opportunity to investigate pathways to long-term sustainability in a tropical island setting. Here, we trace nutrient dynamics across Tikopia’s three pre-European contact phases (Kiki, Sinapupu, Tuakamali) via stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of commensal Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) and domestic pig (Sus scrofa) bone and tooth dentine collagen. Our results show a decline in δ15N values from the Kiki (c. 800 BC-AD 100) to Sinapupu (c. AD 100–1200) phases, consistent with long-term commensal isotope trends observed on other Polynesian islands. However, increased δ15N coupled with lower δ13C values in the Tuakamali Phase (c. AD 1200–1800) point to a later nutrient rejuvenation, likely tied to dramatic transformations in agriculture and land use at the Sinapupu-Tuakamali transition. This study offers new, quantifiable evidence for deep-time land and resource management decisions on Tikopia and subsequent impacts on island nutrient status and long-term sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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20 pages, 2087 KiB  
Article
Island Colonization and Environmental Sustainability in the Postglacial Mediterranean
by Daniel Plekhov, Thomas P. Leppard and John F. Cherry
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3383; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063383 - 18 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2831
Abstract
Island environments present challenges to human colonization, but we have a poor understanding of how environmental difference drives heterogeneous patterns of insular settlement. In this paper, we assess which environmental and geographic variables positively or negatively affect the long-term sustainability of human settlement [...] Read more.
Island environments present challenges to human colonization, but we have a poor understanding of how environmental difference drives heterogeneous patterns of insular settlement. In this paper, we assess which environmental and geographic variables positively or negatively affect the long-term sustainability of human settlement on islands. Using the postglacial Mediterranean basin as a case study, we assess the impact of area, isolation index, species richness, and net primary productivity (NPP) on patterns of island occupation for both hunter-gatherer and agropastoral populations. We find that models involving area most effectively accounts for sustainability in hunter-gatherer island settlement. The agropastoral data are noisier, perhaps due to culturally specific factors responsible for the distribution of the data; nonetheless, we show that area and NPP exert profound influence over sustainability of agropastoral island settlement. We conclude by suggesting that this relates to the capacity of these variables to impact demographic robusticity directly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Archaeology, Historical Ecology, and Sustainability of Island Cultures)
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