Plant-centred issues are fundamental in the definitions and explanations of the Neolithic as a phenomenon.The meeting of the Neolithic Studies Group from which this volume developed aimed to provide a forum for the wide range of approaches now applied to Neolithic archaeobotany at site and landscape scales of resolution.

Papers from the 1993 Association for Environmental Archaeology conference at Durham. The themes of the conference were taphonomy and interpretation, to encourage spreakers to go beyond data acquisition and description. This volume looks at how material (pollen, insects, bones etc. ) came to be deposited in the context from which they were recovered), how surviving material might compare with what existed in the past. Furthermore, how our methodologies can bias our results and how material might be interpreted in terms of past human activities and environmental processes. These themes are relevant to all archaeological and palaeo-ecological enquireies, regardless of the type of material studied. The archaeological periods studied range from the Bronze Age to the 19th century AD and include rural, urban and buiral sites. Several contributors recommend the use of multiple lines of enquiry as a means of counteracting the biases inherent in any one type approach or group of material. Several papers are concerned with the nature of of the recovered archaeological data, looking for patterns that might be interpretable in terms of past environments or taphonomic process.

An overview of contemporary environmental affairs, from 1940s to the present—with an emphasis on nature in an urbanized society, land developments, environmental technology, the structure of environmental politics, environmental opposition, and the results of environmental policy.

The papers in this book were first presented at the Association for Environmental Archaeology conference at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1998. The aim of the conference was to encourage contributors to examine the inter-relationships between classes of data that have increasingly come to be treated in isolation and to encourage thinking about theory in environmental archaeology. Authors have focused on explicit development of theory, others on bridging barriers between different fields of study or classes of evidence. The notion that people are influenced, but not necessarily determined, by the environments in which they live, may seem like a truism, but an ecodynamic perspective however requires us to question the human impact on the environment, disregarding agrecultural influences. Human Ecodynamics discuss how people have been affecting, and affected by environmental variables around them since the biginning of time. Archaeologists are peculiarly well placed to link culture and nature together as the discipline decerns thriving socio-cultural and biological traditions. This thinking is applied to the way in which we conduct our studies of the world around us, and to the boundaries between the various disciplines and sub-disciplines into which we sub-divide the subject matter of investigation.

A collection of short papers and abstracts from the 4th, 5th and 6th proceedings of the Osteological Research Group, held in April and November 1996 and June 1997. The papers cover a wide range of subjects including technical information, evidence derived from bone assemblages and specific individual examples. Studies are presented on archaeozoology, domesticated animal bone assemblages, evidence of violence and stress indicators, measurement and statistical analysis and current research in the field of osteoarchaeology.

As she did in Appalachian Spring and Appalachian Autumn, Bonta offers a day-by-day account of the natural life of one place--her 648-acre property in south central Pennsylvania. In Appalachian Summer, Bonta's first grandchild spends her first summer on earth, and her growth is compared with that of the forest animals. Another important event in this Appalachian summer is the disappearance of a local girl. As the mountain is thoroughly searched, Bonta poses questions about the safety of women in the woods. Do women stay out of the woods because they fear attack by men, or wild creatures and the unknown? Should they have such fears? In her minute observations of one place, one season, Marcia Bonta lays bare the connections we retain to the natural world, which is, finally, our own.

The relevance and importance of Samuel P. Hay's book, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, has only increased over time. Written almost half a century ago, it offers an invaluable history of the conservation movement's origins, and provides an excellent context for understanding contemporary enviromental problems and possible solutions. Against a background of rivers, forests, ranges, and public lands, this book defines two conflicting political processes: the demand for an integrated, controlled development guided by an elite group of scientists and technicians and the demand for a looser system allowing grassroots impulses to have a voice through elected government representatives.

Throughout history some areas have been less attractive for living and farming than others. These areas are identified as marginal because of environmental, economic or socio-political factors. How can we recognise marginality in the archaeological record? How particularly can environmental remains be interpreted? And how can we interpret human strategies when faced with a marginal environment? Most of the papers in this volume focus on Scottish contexts, reflecting their origins at the 1992 meeting of the Association for Environmental Archaeology in Edinburgh. However Greek pastoralism and the problems of food supply in the Egyptian and Syrian deserts are also examined.

It is hard to believe that at one time burley tobacco was not the chief cash crop in Kentucky. Yet for more than half a century hemp dominated the state's agricultural production.James Hopkins surveys the hemp industry in Kentucky from its beginning through its complete demise at the end of World War II, describing the processes of seeding and harvesting the plant, and marketing manufactured goods made of the fiber. With debate presently raging over the legalization of industrial hemp, it is essential that an accurate portrait of this controversial resource be available. Although originally published in 1951, Hopkins's work remains remarkably current as hemp manufacturing today is little changed from the practices the author describes. This edition includes an updated bibliography of recent publications concerning the scientific, economic, and political facets of industrial hemp.

The Butterflies of West Virginia and Their Caterpillars describes 128 species of butterflies found in the state, along with their caterpillars and pupae. Each species account provides a description and information on distribution, habitat, life history, nectar sources, and larval host plants. Butterflies, their caterpillars and pupae are featured in hundreds of color illustrations, as well as detailed drawings and maps. Written for scientists and general enthusiasts alike, the book also includes chapters on studying butterflies and butterfly gardening.

The core dilemma in environmental advocacy may be illustrated by the question, "When we communicate about the world, should we stress what we know or what we feel?" The contributors to The Symbolic Earth argue that it is more important to decide how we should talk about what we know and feel. In their view, the environment is larely a product of how we talk about the world. Because the environment is a social construction, the only hope we have of preserving it is to understand and alter the fundamental ways we discuss it. This collection first examines the ways in which discourse creates environment perceptions. Subjects discussed range from the description of natural scenery to the advocacy of political interest groups, from the everyday interactions of citizens facing environmental crises to the greenwashing of corporate imagemakers, and from the psychology of the mass public to the social constructions of the mass media. The authors include nationally known scholars of environmental history, rhetorical theory, ethnography, communication and journalism studies, public policy, and media criticism.

The potential of environmental evidence in the archaeological record for investigating the links between towns and their rural hinterlands is the focus of this volume. Most papers use evidence from Roman and Medieval Britain but there are also case studies from Paris, medieval Holland, and Oslo. Essential reading for specialists, this book also amply demonstrates the relevance of environmental evidence to central theoretical debates in historic archaeology. Contributors include: E Schia (Urban Oslo and its relation to rural production in the hinterland: An archaeological view) ; R I Macphail (The reworking of urban stratigraphy by human and natural processes) ; M Hill (Insect assemblages as evidence for past woodlands around York) ; H Kenward & E Allison (Rural origins of the urban insect fauna) ; H van Haaster (Plant resources and environment in late medieval Luebeck) ; M Maltby (The meat supply in Roman Dorchester and Winchester) ; Bob Wilson (Mortality patterns, animal husbandry and marketing in and around medieval and post-medieval Oxford) ; B Noddle (The under-rated goat) ; D Brothwell (On the possibility of urban-rural contrasts in human population palaeobiology) ; P Ciezar et al (In Suburbano: New data on the immediate surroundings of Roman and early medieval Paris) ; W Groenman van Waateringe (The menu of different classes in Dutch medieval society) .

This authoritative volume provides a comprehensive guide to the 282 species of woody plants found in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Eastern Missouri. Illustrated with more than 1,150 photographs, this book shows not only leaves and bark, but also buds, flowers, and fruits to enable you to recognize trees at any season. Complete with an identification guide that really works, this beautiful book will be valuable to both specialist and amateur.

Like her popular Appalachian Spring, Marcia Bonta's new book offers a day-by-day account of the changing world of nature in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. This time she chronicles the beauties of the autumn months as she walks the familiar roads and trails of her 500-acre mountain-top farm, noting the minute transformations of the season as well as the more dramatic ones. But her quiet sojourn in the natural world is shattered by the intrusion of a lumberman who insists upon clear-cutting a neighboring property. The massive bulldozers and skidders crush every tree and shrub, weed, and wildflower, leaving only rubble in their wake. The Bontas become involved in a lawsuit challenging this violation of the land they love and seeking to protect their own property from the effects of the logging. "Autumn is a bittersweet time," Bonta writes, "a season of good-byes, when, after the flaming leaves fall and start the inevitable process of decay, we are left with only the bare bones of nature." Fleeing from the whine of chain saws and the crash of falling trees, she roams the mountain-top, watching wild turkeys forage in the field, flocks of migrating birds feast on wild grapes, does and bucks eye each other in their mating ritual. But she can never completely evade the insistent question: What is the relationship between humans and nature? Does ownership give one the right to do as one pleases with the land and all the flora and fauna living on it? Does the natural world exists solely to satisfy mankind’s desire for profit? The answer is not simple; it cannot be drawn in winter’s black and white. But the issues must be of concern to every thoughtful person. Marcia Bonta’s Appalachian Autumn offers a new voice in the ongoing debate.

A visual index of photographs for identifying charred remains of roots and tubers from archaeological sites in Europe and the Near East. Although often present in archaeological deposits the charred remains of vegetative organs, roots, tubers, rhizomes and corns are rarely, or erratically, identified. This manual covers Europe and the Near East.

Kentucky has been a place of great botanical interest for many years. This comprehensive volume lists more than 3,000 plant species and varieties, with complete information on distribution in the state, and reveals the current condition of botanical knowledge on Kentucky flora.