Tropical Forests in Prehistory, History, and Modernity

Cover......Page 1
Tropical Forests in Prehistory, History, and Modernity......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
List of Figures......Page 12
1: Introducing Tropical Forests in Prehistory, History, and Modernity......Page 18
FORESTS OF PLENTY OR ‘GREEN DESERTS’ ?......Page 22
ANCESTRAL FORESTS......Page 25
TROPICAL FOREST DIVERSITY, PAST AND PRESENT......Page 27
NEW METHODS OF ‘DISCOVERY’......Page 31
A PATH THROUGH THE JUNGLE......Page 34
APPROACHING TROPICAL FORESTS IN PREHISTORY, HISTORY, AND MODERNITY: STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION......Page 37
A NOTE ON NOMENCLATURE......Page 40
2: Tropical Forests: Natural History, Diversity, and Potentiality as Theatres of Human Adaptation and Negotiation......Page 42
WHAT ARE TROPICAL FORESTS?......Page 43
GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY......Page 48
Evergreen Tropical Rainforest......Page 50
Montane Rainforest......Page 54
Peat Swamp Forest......Page 55
Dry Tropical Forest......Page 56
Thorn Tropical Forest......Page 57
ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN OPPORTUNITIES IN TROPICAL FORESTS......Page 58
PERCEPTIONS OF PRESERVATION......Page 63
TEMPORAL DIVERSITY......Page 64
Miocene (23–5.3 Million Years Ago)......Page 68
Early Pleistocene (2.6–0.8 Million Years Ago)......Page 69
Late Pleistocene (0.1–0.01 Million Years Ago)......Page 72
Holocene (0.01 Million Years Ago–Present)......Page 74
3: Cradle Under the Canopy: The Forest Origins of our Ape and Hominin Ancestors and the Tropical Forest Forays of the Genus Homo......Page 76
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE ‘SAVANNA HYPOTHESIS’......Page 77
ECOLOGY OF THE APES: TROPICAL FORESTS AS DYNAMIC THEATRES OF GREAT APE CULTURAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY FROM THE MIOCENE TO THE PRESENT DAY......Page 84
A SHADED CRADLE FOR LATE MIOCENE HOMININS IN AFRICA?......Page 89
FOREST VERSUS ‘SAVANNA’ IN PLIOCENE HOMININ EVOLUTION: AN OPEN DRIVER OR A SHADIER PICTURE?......Page 94
TROPICAL FORESTS AND EARLY-MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE HOMININ EXPANSIONS OUT OF AFRICA......Page 98
TROPICAL FORESTS AS PART OF AN EVOLUTIONARY MOSAIC......Page 103
4: Into the Woods: Early Homo sapiens and Tropical Forest Colonization......Page 106
THE GENETIC, MORPHOLOGICAL, AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF HUMAN ORIGINS......Page 107
AN ORIGIN ‘UNDER THE CANOPY’ ?......Page 113
PASSING THROUGH FORESTS: A VERY HUMAN OUT OF AFRICA......Page 117
South Asia......Page 119
Southeast Asia......Page 122
Sahul and the Bismarck Archipelago......Page 127
Central and South America......Page 130
TROPICAL FOREST PREHISTORIES AND THE DEFINING OF A PLASTIC PIONEER......Page 133
5: Tropical Bounties: The Emergence of Tropical Forest Agricultures......Page 136
A BREAK FROM THE PAST?......Page 137
EMERGING FROM THE SWAMP: INCIPIENT CULTIVATION, A TROPICAL PERSPECTIVE......Page 142
Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australasia......Page 147
South Asia......Page 150
Africa......Page 153
Neotropics......Page 154
INVASIVE AGRICULTURES......Page 159
Definition......Page 164
Sustainability......Page 165
6: ‘Ruins’ of the Forest: Social Complexity and Tropical Cities......Page 167
DEFINING URBANISM AND THE CHALLENGE OF ‘LOW-DENSITY AGRARIAN-BASED URBANISM’......Page 169
INDIGENOUS TROPICAL URBANISM: UNIQUE CHALLENGES AND EXAMPLES......Page 173
North and Central America: The Case of the Maya......Page 175
Southeast Asia: Cases from Burma, Cambodia, and Java......Page 180
South Asia: Sri Lanka......Page 185
The Amazon Basin......Page 187
The Pacific: Island-Based Tropical Statehood......Page 192
AGRARIAN-BASED, LOW-DENSITY SETTLEMENT: A UNIFORM TROPICAL FOREST ADAPTATION?......Page 195
AGRARIAN-BASED, LOW-DENSITY URBANISM: A UNIFORM RECORD OF COLLAPSE AND LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE?......Page 198
7: The Last in a Long Line: Historical and Ethnographic Tropical Forest Encounters......Page 203
DISAPPEARANCE FROM HISTORY......Page 204
THE ISOLATED ‘NOBLE SAVAGE’ AND ‘PRISTINE’ HUNTER-GATHERERS......Page 209
DOCUMENTING CONNECTIONS......Page 212
DRIVING THE TRADE: TROPICAL FOREST GROUPS AS ECONOMIC AGENTS......Page 217
GIVING BACK A VOICE......Page 223
NOT PRISTINE BUT THREATENED KNOWLEDGE......Page 226
8: The Tropical ‘Anthropocene’: A Modern Battleground or a Long-Term Framework?......Page 230
TROPICAL FORESTS AND EARTH SYSTEMS......Page 231
TROPICAL FORESTS IN THE ‘ANTHROPOCENE’......Page 235
EXPANDING THE ‘ANTHROPOCENE’ IN TROPICAL FORESTS......Page 241
CONFLICTING INTERESTS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS......Page 244
A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE: UNITING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE......Page 252
9: Forests of Plenty?: Comparisons and Conclusions......Page 256
TROPICAL FOREST PREHISTORIES, HISTORIES, AND MODERNITIES......Page 257
UNIQUE ADAPTATIONS OR PART OF THE BIGGER HUMAN PICTURE?......Page 260
DESTINED FOR FAILURE?......Page 263
TROPICAL LEGACIES: CULTURAL, POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND BIOLOGICAL OUTCOMES......Page 267
DEFINING THRESHOLDS AND CROSSING A LINE?......Page 271
References......Page 276
Index......Page 360