The Holocene: An Environmental History [Hardcover]

The Holocene provides students, researchers and lay-readers with the remarkable story of how the natural world has been transformed since the end of the last Ice Age around 15,000 years ago.? This period has witnessed a shift from environmental changes determined by natural forces to those dominated by human actions, including those of climate and greenhouse gases. Understanding the environmental changes - both natural and anthropogenic - that have occurred during the Holocene is of crucial importance if we are to achieve a sustainable environmental future.

Revised and updated to take full account of the most recent advances, the third edition of this classic text includes substantial material on the scientific methods that are used to reconstruct and date past environments, as well as new concepts such as the Anthropocene. The book is fully-illustrated, global in coverage, and contains case studies, a glossary and more than 500 new references.

Preface to the third edition ix

Acknowledgements xi

About the companion website xii

1 Introduction 1

Sources of information on past environments 2

Nature and society 5

The significance of the Holocene 6

References 7

2 Reconstructing Holocene environments 10

Dating the past 10

Historical and archaeological dating 11

Radiometric dating methods 13

Dendrochronology and radiocarbon calibration 19

Other dating methods 25

Conclusion 28

Palaeoecological techniques 32

Pollen analysis 33

Plant remains 40

Creatures great and small 44

Freshwater and marine organisms 46

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