Human Dispersal and Species Movement From Prehistory to the Present

About this book

How have humans colonised the entire planet and reshaped its ecosystems in the process? This unique and groundbreaking collection of essays explores human movement through time, the impacts of these movements on landscapes and other species, and the ways in which species have co-evolved and transformed each other as a result. Exploring the spread of people, plants, animals, and diseases through processes of migration, colonisation, trade and travel, it assembles a broad array of case studies from the Pliocene to the present. The contributors from disciplines across the humanities and natural sciences are senior or established scholars in the fields of human evolution, archaeology, history, and geography.

Contents

Introduction:
1. Human and human-mediated species dispersals through time: introduction and overview Nicole Boivin

Part I. Origins: Species Movements in the Pleistocene:
2. Carnivore guilds and the impact of hominin dispersals Margaret E. Lewis
3. Pleistocene hominin dispersals, naïve faunas and social networks Robin Dennell
4. Hominins on the move: an assessment of anthropogenic shaping of environments in the Palaeolithic Michael D. Petraglia
5. Reconceptualising the palaeozoogeography of the Sahara and the dispersal of early modern humans Nick A. Drake and Roger Blench

Part II. Across the Water: Species Movements by Coast and Sea:
6. Coastlines, marine ecology, and maritime dispersals in human history Jon Erlandson
7. Breaking down barriers: pre/historic dispersals across island Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia Tim Denham
8. The last great migration: human colonisation of the remote Pacific Islands Terry Hunt and Carl P. Lipo

Part III. Complexity: Species Movements in the Holocene:
9. Dispersals, connectivity and indigeneity in Arabian prehistory Rémy Crassard and Lamya Khalidi
10. Reconstructing migration trajectories using ancient DNA Greger Larson
11. Out of the Fertile Crescent: the dispersal of domestic livestock through Europe and Africa Melinda A. Zeder
12. Adapting crops, landscapes, and food choices: patterns in the dispersal of domesticated plants across Eurasia Dorian Fuller and Leilani Lucas
13. Tracing the initial diffusion of maize in North America Bruce D. Smith
14. Proto-globalisation and biotic exchange in the Old World Nicole Boivin

Part IV. Invasion: The Movement of Invasive and Disease Species:
15. Invasive eusocieties: commonalities between ants and humans Patrizia d'Ettorre
16. Species dispersions in time, space, and mind: the invasive aliens in context Marcus Hall
17. Disease dispersals in human history at multiple time scales Mark Achtman
18. Early malarial infections and the first epidemiological transition James L. A. Webb, Jr
19. The globalisations of disease Monica Green
20. Modern day population, pathogen and pest dispersals Andrew J. Tatem

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