Natural formation processes and the archaeological record, D.T. Nash and M.D. Petraglia (Eds.), 1987, BAR International Series 352, 204 p., $28.00 (including exchange charges) (paperbound)
✍ Scribed by C. Reid Ferring
- Book ID
- 102225083
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1989
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 300 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0883-6353
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
REVIEWS
ful solar cycle. This difficulty is resolved in a subsequent paper by Landscheidt. Landscheidt's model shows that Willett's problem arose from a change of phase in solar activity in the middle of this century. Landscheidt's article is complex but very rewarding. He demonstrates correlations between the rate of change of the center of mass of the solar system and global climate back to about 5259 BC. Numerous graphs will aid interested historians and archaeologists to trace global energy balance and climate through their periods of interest. His calculations agree with global temperature sequences for the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Optimum, and the Middle Holocene Hypsithermal.
Most imposing about this work-other than its size (588 pages) and the technical complexity of many contributions-is the impressive range of represented disciplines. From genetics and evolutionary biology through archaeology and sedimentology to planetary physics, the amalgam of data and the methods utilized both salute the multidisciplinary approach of Fairbridge and point the way toward understanding the mechanisms of climate. Of particular interest is the multiscalar-both temporal and spatial-explanatory scheme which many contributors adopt. Not only are a variety of temporal cycles identified and causative links established, but the geographical extent of phenomena (as Morner, Starkel and others assert) must antecede any comprehensive explanation. As a whole, the book argues convincingly for a heterarchical, rather than hierarchical, organizational frame for the study of causation.